You Brought Me To Life
by gryffindormariah
Summary: Love shouldn't be easy. It should be lust, and desperation, and pain, and sadness, and regret, and fucking you in the ass over and over (hypothetically). But if you can get past that, you get to the good stuff, like tenderness, and understanding, and comfort, and friendship, and infatuation, and pleasure, and fucking you in the ass over and over (literally). Rated M for reasons.
1. Don't Judge A Book By It's Cover

Chapter 1: Don't Judge A Book By It's Cover

Kurt sat down in his usual seat beside Mercedes for first block world history. Mr. Hanford stood up from his chair as the warning bell rang, and walked over to the door to close it, when someone Kurt had definitely never seen before walked in. He had perfectly tanned skin, and a head of dark curls. He was wearing a ratty black leather jacket and skinny jeans, and earrings, and even though Kurt's usual type was the brawny football player, something about his tiny waist and short stature Kurt found very attractive.

Mr. Hanford raised his eyebrows at the boy and he held his hand. "Blaine Anderson," said the boy who now had a name. His voice was smooth. Like water without waves or ripples. It was almost melodic, and calming.

Kurt looked around the class and saw several jaws agape, and most of the female class ogling this Blaine Anderson. Santana looked at Kurt and bugged her eyes out to show her interest. Kurt looked back at the boy and saw Mr. Hanford shaking his hand. He turned to the class. "Everybody welcome McKinley's newest student, Blaine Anderson."

Hardly anyone clapped; many of them too busy checking out Blaine shamelessly. Blaine didn't seem to mind, he just quietly sat down in the seat in front of Santana, tossing his messenger bag on the floor beside him as the final bell rang. As class got started, their teacher passed around a worksheet and he went over to Blaine's desk and started to explain it to him.

Blaine didn't respond to the teacher and didn't talk to anyone in the class, he just did his work and finished faster than most of the class. He sat back in his seat and plugged in earphones and Kurt eyed him. Blaine shrugged off his jacket, to show off a tight polo shirt hugging his arms perfectly.

Santana leaned closer to Kurt and whispered, "McKinley doesn't make 'em like that, Hummel, but that doesn't justify staring at him like he's something to eat."

Kurt rolled his eyes. "Shut up, Santana," he said flippantly, but his cheeks still burned. Mr. Hanford started going on about a group project at the front of the room, and Kurt didn't listen, too busy staring at the back of the new kid's head. He started tuning in when he heard names being listed off and people paired together. A group project. Great.

"Mr. Hummel, you will be working with..." Kurt tensed as Mr. Hanford read down the attendance to find him a partner. "Mr. Anderson."

Blaine turned around to see who Hanford was looking at, and his eyes fell on Kurt. Kurt didn't smile, or even nod, he just stared. Blaine grew a small smile, and Kurt swore he saw his eyes look him up and down before he turned back around. He started going off about the assignment, but Kurt didn't listen at all, because _oh god, he was working with the hot new kid,_ he couldn't focus on anything else.

"Please go off with your partners." Mr. Hanford said before taking a seat behind his computer.

Mercedes went off to be with her partner, and Blaine took her seat beside Kurt.

Blaine peeked at his syllabus that Mr. Hanford had given anything and Kurt decided introductions were in order. "Hi, I'm Kurt."

Blaine looked up at him and read his face before he grinned. He held out his hand, for a surprisingly firm handshake.

"Blaine." he returned easily.

Blaine started to read his assignment as Kurt's phone buzzed and he opened up the text from Santana.

_Looks like your project partner is the new Puck_.

Kurt's eyebrows scrunched together in confusion and he sent her back a single question mark. He knew Puck was in juvie, but what did she mean "new" Puck - was he replacing him in glee club? His phone buzzed again.

_Word on the street is he's a bad boy. Expelled from his last school, and Jacob Ben Israel's blog just put up an article that he's carrying a knife AND he told one of his kidneys for weed money._

Kurt didn't respond, he just looked up and saw her waggling her eyebrows at him. There was no way that could be true. He peeked over at Blaine, looking him up and down, trying to be discreet, but apparently it didn't go unnoticed.

"See something you like?" Blaine asked teasingly, looking up from his paper and giving Kurt a smirk.

Kurt blushed and looked down at his paper to avoid Blaine's eyes. "N-no," he stuttered, "Sorry, I was just um - seeing if you were done reading."

"Mmhmm," Blaine hummed, apparently unconvinced.

Kurt could not believe he'd already made a fool of himself in front of the new kid. And honestly, the fact that the new kid was still smirking at catching Kurt ogling was kind of pissing him off. Yeah, Kurt was staring, but if Blaine was the "new Puck," that meant that dumpster dives and slushies were on the way, and he was pissed that one too long of a look is going to start it off.

A crease formed in between Blaine's eyebrows and he dropped the smirk. "Are you alright? You look a little… heated." he muttered.

Kurt flushed again, though partly out of embarrassment and partly out of anger. "Fine, thanks," he grumbled.

Blaine chuckled mutely and said, "Alright, Kurt," he said his name enunciating the "T", seeming almost like he was testing it out. "Let's start working."

Kurt grabbed his hand out and started reading it for the first time, but Blaine started talking.

"So," Blaine started, "We have a month to work on this project, I doubt it'll take more than a few weeks, if you're up for some hard work."

Kurt wasn't sure if he meant to, but Blaine was extremely condescending. 'If you're up for some hard work' what the hell is that? So Kurt set down his paper and looked up at Blaine with narrowed eyes. "Excuse me?" Blaine's eyebrows rose. "Do you think I'm stupid, or something?"

Blaine looked vaguely surprised, but also like he was trying to hide it. "Maybe. Everyone else I've met today is borderline brain dead, I had to assume." Even though Blaine was being incredibly rude, he was also being extremely formal, and it was extremely confusing for Kurt. It was like he knew how to be polite when talking to people, but he was choosing not to be.

Kurt's eyes were narrowed practically to slits and he said sharply, "Well I'm sorry to disappoint, but my grades are nearly perfect, and I'm more than capable to hard work."

A smirk worked its way onto Blaine's face and after a moment of consideration he said, "Okay, firecracker, all I'm saying, is you're probably not going to enjoy spending a whole lot of time with me to work on this."

"And why's that?" Kurt asked briskly, clutching his binder to his chest.

"Well no offense, Kurt, but you've so far come across as a little uppity, a little preppy, if you know what I mean," Blaine actually had the nerve to wink at Kurt as he said that. "And I haven't done very well in the past with people like that."

Kurt clenched his jaw. _Do not punch him in the face_. He is not worth a week's worth of detention.

"Well," he said through gritted teeth. "You've come across as entirely arrogant and rude, but I think I'll be able to ignore it long enough to finish this assignment."

Blaine smiled sweetly and said, "Well buckle up, buttercup, we're going to be working on projects together all semester long."

"What?" Kurt said immediately.

Blaine raised an eyebrow. "And I thought I was a bad listener. Hanford said our partners for this are our partners all semester."

Kurt's jaw clenched. "I am _not_ a bad listener," he hissed. "I was distracted."

Blaine snorted. "Okay, Kurt, no need to get pissy with me," he said obnoxiously. "Just relax. Unwind a little."

"I am perfectly capable of relaxing." Kurt grumbled.

"I'm not convinced," Blaine sighed, "And I'd be happy to offer my services," he winked at him.

Kurt felt his cheeks warm up again and his jaw dropped. '_Offer my services'? What did that mean? Blaine wasn't… was he?_

Kurt just gaped at him, Blaine stared at him, it seemed like he was trying to read Kurt's expressions again. They were silent for a moment, and Kurt at least was trying to figure out the other's sexuality.

"But um, as I was saying," Blaine said, with a little less bravado than before, "We're partners all semester."

Kurt dropped his eyes back to his paper and sighed, "Fantastic."

Another cocky high school boy was exactly what the doctor ordered. A cocky, handsome, possibly not straight boy.

"So when are you free? There's a lot of research and things we're gonna have to do." Blaine asked

Kurt took a deep breath. He could do this. He's dealt with people much less pleasant.

"After school." he said. "Meet me in the library at 2:15."

"2:15," Blaine agreed as Mr. Hanford started talking again.

After school, Kurt started off toward the library after saying his goodbyes with Mercedes, and made sure Finn could get a ride home after football. It was 2:30, and Blaine still wasn't there. Kurt started shoving his books roughly back into his bag, sincerely pissed off. So it was going to be a semester of being blown off for studying and working. _Fantastic_. Just as he was about to stand up and leave, Blaine walked into the library, holding a stack of books. He spotted Kurt and made his way over as Kurt started pulling his books back out of his bag.

"You're late." Kurt informed him as he sat down.

"Sorry," Blaine apologized. "I had to talk to some teachers, grab a couple textbooks for my classes." Kurt peered at his books and tried not to look at all impressed; Italian 4, AP English, AP Bio. He didn't want to say anything good about Blaine, but those were hard classes. He'd kind of assumed he'd be the barely-passing-tenth-grade-classes type of junior Puck was, just because of how unpleasant he was when he met him.

"Well, let's get started," he said listlessly, pulling out the rubric for the assignment and reading it over.

As it turned out, working with Blaine wasn't the excruciatingly painful shitfest he'd imagined. He actually did his work, and probably more than his fair share too, and he did it well. He wasn't loud and rowdy, he was actually rather subdued, though that could've just been the atmosphere of the library. But what really struck Kurt was that he was smart. Surprisingly smart, actually.

But what kind of sucked working with Blaine, was he was really distracting. Not because he was being stupid or especially obnoxious, but Kurt could hardly keep himself from looking at how his long eyelashes left shadows on his cheeks, and how full his lips looked with a pen hanging out of it, and those stupid curls.

Blaine glanced up at Kurt and saw him staring again. "See something you like?" he asked playfully for the second time that day, taking the pen out of his mouth and licking his lips.

Kurt blushed but said, "You wish."

Blaine laughed. "Well you're not wrong." He said.

Kurt didn't respond, but his mind was racing. So Blaine was gay. Right? He wore tight clothes and definitely had some product in his hair, but his gaydar has been wrong more often than right lately, and he didn't want to assume… But what straight boy would say the things Blaine's said to him?

After a few minutes of not speaking, Blaine spoke up again. "So what are you doing Friday night?"

Kurt's eyes widened and darted up to Blaine's. "I'm sorry, what?"

Blaine kept making eye contact and Kurt realized he had _really _great eyes. Gold and bright and warm, and completely enchanting. "Let's go on a date," he said, as if it were the simplest thing imaginable. "Let's say Friday night? I'll take you out to eat if you want." Kurt didn't show any indication he even heard him and Blaine continued mischievously, "Or if you'd rather, we can skip dinner and just get to the good stuff."

Kurt's jaw dropped and he blushed to the roots of his hair. "I cannot believe you just said that." he muttered, shuffling his papers to have something to do.

Blaine shrugged. "I don't see why I wouldn't have." He said easily, "It's not every day you meet someone this nice to look at." he looked Kurt up and down again, and as rude as some of his comments were, there was also something undeniably charming about Blaine.

Kurt shook his head incredulously. He'd never been asked out before, he'd admit that. But he'd certainly hoped it would've been classier than some asshole who thought Kurt would hook up with him in lieu of a date.

Blaine watched his shaking head and simply said, "Okay," before peering back down at his textbook.

Kurt stared at him, waiting for another half charming/half rude response, but got nothing. "That's it?"

Blaine looked up in surprise. "A gentlemen takes 'no' for an answer." He replied easily.

Kurt snorted. "Oh, and _you're_ a gentleman?" he asked incredulously.

Blaine shrugged. "It's my secret past-life, I suppose." Kurt rolled his eyes. "What? You don't have a secret past-life? The old version of you you'd prefer to not think about?"

Kurt shook his head, his lips pressed tightly together. Blaine raised a questioning eyebrow at him and pulled a laptop out of his bag. "What are you doing?" Kurt asked as Blaine started on his computer.

Blaine just wiggled his eyebrows at him. A minute or so later, he said, "You know, you should really put up some privacy settings. Any creep could look through your Facebook if they wanted to."

Kurt smacked his book shut. "You're looking through my Facebook?" he asked loudly enough to be shushed by the nearby librarian.

Blaine smirked at him. "Jeez, Kurt, take it down a few notches, we're in the library." Kurt rolled his eyes. "There. Friend request sent."

Kurt rolled his eyes and opened up his book. He tried. He tried reading about Charlemagne, he did, but he couldn't when every other second he heard Blaine giggling at something he found on his Facebook page.

"What? _What_ is so funny?" he asked finally, setting his book down again.

"You were a cheerleader?" Blaine asked, biting down on his lower lip to try and hide his smile. Kurt nodded jerkily, his face flushing with anger. "You're unashamed? That's not a secret past-life?"

Kurt inhaled deeply and answered, "Yes, I was a cheerleader, but it's not a secret."

Blaine continued looking through his old Facebook photos and status', bringing up the lower points in Kurt's life, hoping to get some kind of reaction. Kurt was trying to not let himself be bothered by it, but Blaine was making it extremely difficult.

"You're in glee club?" Blaine asked after an impossibly short amount of silence had passed, attempting to hide his smile by pressing his lips tight together.

Kurt's jaw clenched. "Yes. Problem?"

Blaine shook his head. "Not at all; secret past-life Blaine was in a glee club too."

"Sure," he mumbled doubtfully, going back to his book.

Blaine cocked his head. "He was – I was." He sounded almost offended that Kurt didn't believe him, his displeasure written on his face.

Kurt rested his head on his hands, propping his elbows on the table. "Can you even sing?" he asked in the most patronizing voice he could muster.

"Yes," Blaine said indignantly. "I can sing."

Kurt snorted. "Whatever you say," he said in a sing-song voice. He looked up at Blaine and almost laughed at the look on his face, growing more and more frustrated.

He pointed an accusatory finger at Kurt and said, "You're driving me crazy." Kurt just laughed.

He thought back to maybe a week before when Santana was talking about how Kurt needed to embrace his animal magnetism or whatever, but he was starting to think he was getting more… magnetic, if the way Blaine kept looking at him was any indication. He was looking at him like he was going to eat him. Not in the way that he felt threatened, but whenever he looked up, Kurt saw Blaine was looking at him with hungry eyes.

Eventually he had to ask, "Why do you keep looking at me like that?"

Blaine raised his eyebrows. "I'm trying to figure that out." He said, twisting his pen between his fingers. "I think you just… intrigue me."

Kurt felt his cheeks warm up and he dropped his head. No one had ever called him intriguing before. "You're also incredibly vexing. I'm not sure which one's more prevalent."

"Okay," Kurt said, rolling his eyes. "How about, for the rest of the time we have to be here, you don't say anything. You also don't look at me, you just do your work." He suggested aggressively, shuffling his papers and getting back into his book.

They spent another hour and a half in the library before they decided they'd done enough work for that day. Besides, Kurt wasn't positive how much longer he and Blaine could stay in the same room without either ripping each other in half or making out over the table.

**?!**

Blaine didn't see Kurt throughout the week apart from the one class they shared together, and even then, they didn't really talk. Blaine got the impression Kurt didn't like him, so he didn't push it. Besides, when Kurt refused to acknowledge him, he was able to stare at him. The latina chick who sat there commented to him about the 'longing in his puppy eyes' but Blaine just told her to screw off. Of course, that turned into a very lengthy challenge about which one of them could insult the other more, which got them sent to the office in the middle of class. She was pretty pissed at him after that, so she ignored him too. The weird blonde still talked to him, but Blaine actually wished she'd take a leaf out of her bestie's book and stop talking to him too.

Blaine walked out of Mr. Radner's room Friday afternoon with his bag thrown over his shoulder. It was annoying to be getting home so late, but he had to stay after for AP bio to catch up, since he was joining the class after the term had already started. Plus, he hadn't gotten a ton of work done in class, because he was actually busy making a friend. He had spent much of the class goofing around with Mike Chang, who he actually bonded with quite a lot. Mike and Blaine were both smart and ambitious, so they were taking several classes together this semester and next, and they were actually looking at some of the same colleges. And Mike was apparently very excited to have an Asian friend other than his girlfriend; Blaine's only half Filipino, but it's enough for Mike to be interested in being friends with him.

He finally left his classroom and was heading to the parking lot, but was derailed by music. He followed the faint noise after confirming it _was_ in fact music, and he wasn't crazy, and it led him to the auditorium. He stepped inside and saw the entire thing was done up in lights and setting, and – holy shit, was that Kurt?

_It's astounding_

_Time is fleeting_

_Madness…_

_Takes its toll_

Blaine grew a huge grin and he sat down in one of the back seats. That was Kurt dressed as Riff Raff? He peered at all the other people on stage taking part in the performance, and was pretty sure it was the glee club, because he saw that annoying girl from his third block with the big nose, and the gigantic kid she was always making out with in the hallways.

He had to admit they were good. Not as good as his old glee club because they only had like, three good dancers, but they had nice voices and their costumes were actually pretty great. He watched them finish the Time Warp, and the Spanish teacher stood up from his seat and started clapping for them and critiquing, so he took it as his cue to leave. He stood up from his spot in the back row and as they started talking to the Spanish teacher, he stepped out of the auditorium and back into the hallway.

He walked out to his bike and hitched his bag higher onto his shoulder. His first week at McKinley was over. He hadn't found his place at the school yet, but he'd made like, two and a half friends, and he hadn't gotten into any trouble, so that was something. He pulled on his helmet and stowed away his bag and got on, revving the engine and driving home. It could've been a better first week, but it was still better than the last few 'first weeks' he's had. Progress is progress, at any rate.


	2. Things Were Kinda Heavy

Kurt walked into school on Monday morning and actually had a smile on his face – cute outfit, good skin day, his hair looked perfect _and _he'd managed to keep it from getting too wet from the rain outside. So of course, someone had to come along and ruin his morning.

He was in such high spirits, he wasn't as mentally prepared as he usually was for the oncoming shove into the lockers, so he slammed into them hard, not thinking fast enough to even catch himself. He looked up to see Karofsky and Azimio high-fiving as they walked away, laughing to themselves.

He sat up against the lockers and closed his eyes, taking a long, much-needed breath. _Just one more year_, he reminded himself. He knew some of his books were on the floor and his bag was crumpled on the floor next to him, but he ignored these facts, and took a minute to ruminate on the floor.

"Hey, are you okay?" Kurt slowly opened his eyes to the sound of a concerned voice, and saw a pair of legs in front of his. He lifted his gaze just high enough to see an outstretched hand, and he took it gratefully, letting it pull him up. He looked up and saw who the hand belonged to and his gratitude fell. Blaine.

He took his hand back quickly and adjusted the strap of his bag on his shoulder. "Oh, it's you." he said before he could stop himself.

Blaine's expression faltered for such a small moment before he caught himself, that Kurt almost missed it. He forced a smirk and said, "Nice to see you too, Kurt."

Kurt just brushed himself off and sighed. God, this was not how he wanted to start his day. He started walking away, but Blaine kept up with him. "You're not very chipper in the mornings, huh?"

"Not to people I don't want to talk to." Wow, he _needed _to work on his filter.

At least it got Blaine to drop his stupid, attractive smirk. Stupid. Stupid smirk. Blaine nodded with his lips pressed tightly together. "You really don't like me, do you?"

Kurt just looked at him out of the corner of his eye. He didn't dislike Blaine as much as he was putting off. He thought he was annoying as all hell, but he was kinder to him than some of his friends were. And he was being kind of hard on him. He didn't really know why, given that he wasn't usually this rude to people he _hated, _like Karofsky, or Puck before they were friends. Besides, Blaine just helped him off the floor.

Blaine gave a single nod and pursed his lips. "Alright," he said, his voice sounding almost disappointed. "See you later then."

And with that he was gone. Kurt looked back at him and saw him walk in the opposite direction even though they were almost at their history class. He sighed to himself as he walked into the classroom. That was rude. All Blaine did was help him up off the floor, which was more than he could say for any of his friends. He was obnoxious the other day, but not obnoxious enough to deserve to be verbally kicked in the balls. He sat down and waited for class to start, wanting the floor to just swallow him. Class hadn't even started and today sucked.

**?!**

Blaine didn't go to first block. He didn't really see the point; it was just going to be project work, and Kurt clearly didn't want to talk to him, so he just went back out to his bike as other kids kept filing into the school. He got outside, ignoring the look he got from Mike as he walked in with his girlfriend, and thankfully it had stopped raining. He walked to the closest coffee shop, some place called The Lima Bean, got his usual coffee and biscotti and sat down at a table with his laptop. He may as well get some work done, since he was skipping the time for them to work on their project.

He didn't really get why Kurt was mad at him; sure he was a dick before, he didn't even _do _anything today. Kurt let him pull him up, but as soon as he saw it was Blaine, it was like he was inconveniencing him with his presence. Whatever, Kurt would probably be better off avoiding Blaine anyways.

It wasn't like Kurt mattered to him. He was one kid in a school of two thousand; he didn't need the approval of one kid. But Kurt was so _interesting _to Blaine_, _and he didn't know why. Blaine just liked how he did up his hair, and he liked how bold his outfits were, and he liked that he didn't put up with Blaine's shit, and he liked how much he didn't want anyone's help, and he really liked his face. Blaine pulled up Facebook and went to Kurt's page again, but found he couldn't look at it; Kurt put up more privacy settings. He laughed to himself and wondered if he did it because Blaine told him to, or if he did it so Blaine couldn't see his page anymore. Another thing he noticed was Kurt didn't accept his friend request. Living in the 21st century really helped with letting you know where you stand with people.

He shut his laptop and ate his biscotti. Homework could wait. He propped his feet up on the chair across from him and drank his coffee until first block was almost over and walked back outside. When he got to school, he got a very stern look from the lady in the main office who gave him a pass to second block, to which he gave her his most charming grin. Second block was his Italian class and honestly, it was a waste of time; Blaine understood the language better than his teacher. But it was an easy A, so he took it, and he really didn't want to get better acquainted with that pervy-looking Spanish teacher.

After second block, on his way to his third block, he saw Kurt again. He was in a similar position to when Blaine saw him earlier, slumped on the floor, clutching his bag. _Just walk away, Blaine_. He tried to tell himself. But the closer he got, the more he knew he'd never be able to leave Kurt, or probably anyone, in a position like this.

So he held out his hand and said, "Alright, down there?"

Kurt opened his eyes and looked at Blaine for a long moment before he took his hand and let Blaine pull him to his feet. He brushed himself off and Blaine straightened up his jacket and the strap of his bag that was falling off.

"You weren't in first block," Kurt pointed out. "Even though I saw you ten minutes before class got started." Blaine nodded and started walking toward his classroom again.

Kurt caught up to him and said, "What, are you ignoring me now?" Blaine shrugged. He helped Kurt up off the ground, he didn't owe him anything else. "I'm sorry about earlier."

Blaine looked at him curiously. "Really? You don't seem the apologizing type." Kurt raised his eyebrows at him. "You just seem a little… stubborn."

Kurt's jaw clenched. "Has anyone ever told you you're incredibly frustrating?"

"Frustrating?" Blaine asked, thinking back. "Obnoxious, rude, arrogant… frustrating? I don't think I've ever been called frustrating."

Kurt took a long breath and said, "Anyways, thanks." He went to turn around, but Blaine grabbed his arm so he'd keep walking with him.

"You're welcome." He said, letting go of Kurt's arm and walking with him. "And your apology is accepted. But I was wondering if I could ask why you were so pissed at me this morning?"

Kurt shrugged guiltily and said, "Bad morning? Also, you hadn't exactly made good impression on me."

"Okay," Blaine agreed easily. "That's fair."

They got to the doors of the cafeteria and Kurt stopped walking. "I should go to class, I have second lunch." He explained.

"Skip." Blaine said simply. "You've had a bad day, skip third block and have lunch with me."

"This isn't my lunch." He said, because it wasn't.

"It's not mine either,"

Kurt raised his eyebrow doubtfully. "I can't skip class, I'll get in trouble."

Blaine shook his head. "Nah, you have French class, right? There's a sub, they won't even notice."

Kurt shook his head. "You might be able to get away with cutting class, but I won't and my dad will find out, and I'll be grounded."

"_Kurt_."

Kurt looked at him for a long minute before he sighed and said, "Fine." He and Blaine got in the lunch line where Blaine insisted on paying, and they sat outside on the steps.

"So tell me," Blaine started, picking at a salad. "Who does that to you?"

"Does what?" Kurt asked idly, spearing a cucumber.

"Shoves you into lockers,"

"Oh," Kurt rolled his eyes. "That would be Karofsky. He's on the football team, he hates me."

Blaine nodded slowly and looked at Kurt like he wanted to say something. "What?" Kurt snapped impatiently.

"Why does he hate you?" Blaine asked slowly.

Kurt shrugged. "If I had to venture a guess… it's because I'm gay."

"You know, if you just stood up to him-"

"He'd leave me alone." Kurt finished lamely, rolling his eyes. "You know, I've heard that so many times, I'm not sure it's ever actually worked for anyone."

"It worked for me." Blaine said.

Kurt looked at him and asked, "So, you're totally gay then?"

Blaine smirked but bit his lip hard to try and hide it. "What gave it away? Was it my bowtie, or my boner whenever we're together?"

Kurt blushed and Blaine didn't know if he mean to, but his eyes flickered down to Blaine's crotch.

"Oh my god, you checked!" Blaine practically yelled, a huge grin taking up his face.

Kurt shoved Blaine's shoulder, still blushing bright red. "_Shut_ _up._" He groaned.

Blaine sat up and wiped his eyes, and said, "Okay, okay, I'm sorry. It's just been so long since someone was uncertain of my sexuality it was a little funny for me."

Kurt composed himself and said, "I just wasn't sure if you were messing with me, or you're bisexual, or something."

Blaine nodded. "Okay. Just for the record, I'm _not_. I'm actually very, very gay." He said, tapping his hand on Kurt's thigh. "But I was serious about standing up to him."

Kurt just gave a long sigh, and Blaine crossed his legs and turned to Kurt. "Listen, at one of my old schools, I was given a lot of crap for being gay. I let kids torment me, even the kids who were my friends before I came out. And it got to the point where I had to transfer schools because it got so bad." Blaine grabbed Kurt's hand and tugged on it so Kurt would look him in the eye. "And it was because I didn't do a single thing about it."

Blaine looked at Kurt for a long moment and didn't let go of his hand. Kurt was really attractive. He always could appreciate attractiveness, in anyone really, but Kurt was an usual kind of attractive. Definitely a kind of attractive he _liked. _Shut up, Blaine, you're giving advice. "Prejudice is just ignorance… Kurt."

He didn't need to say his name again, but he liked his name. It was a good name. Kurt was starting to look like he wanted to cry so he said, "Do you want to get out of here?"

"How?" Kurt asked, looking around. "We still have fourth block, you know."

Blaine shrugged. "We can skip, I don't mind."

"Are we supposed to just sit here for another block?" Kurt asked listlessly.

Blaine shot him a dubious look. "How hard do you think it is to sneak out of here?"

He stood up and Kurt took a long, deliberating breath and stood up with him, clutching his bag to his chest. Blaine waited for the bell to ring for the end of lunch before pulling Kurt into the auditorium and to the side door and outside.

"Which car is yours?" he asked.

Kurt led him over to his car, and somehow, Blaine managed to work his car keys out of his pocket without him noticing. Blaine got into the driver's side and Kurt just sighed before hopping into the passenger seat.

"Where are we going?" Kurt asked, his voice void of any inflection after they'd turned out of the school parking lot and onto the main roads.

"My house," Blaine answered simply, winding through traffic.

"Wait, what?" Kurt asked. Blaine's posture was rigid, his hands were gripping the wheel so tightly his knuckles were turning white. "You have a license, right?"

Blaine glanced at him out the corner of his eye. "What? Of course I do."

"You just look really… nervous." he said as they pulled into a neighborhood of large and larger houses.

Blaine didn't answer until he pulled into a driveway. "I don't like driving cars." He said simply, placing Kurt's keys in the front pocket of his bag.

The house they were walking toward had a huge lawn, covered in children's toys, and the exterior was painted a soft cream, and it was _massive_, and not just by Lima's standards. "Wait, this is your house? Like, this is where you live?"

"Technically it's my aunt's, but yeah, I live here." Blaine said as Kurt spotted Blaine's infamous motorcycle near the garage doors.

"Why didn't you take your deathtrap to school today?"

Blaine smirked as Kurt followed him to the front door. "It was raining this morning and my aunt insisted she drop me off." He said, unlocking the house and immediately going up the stairs. Kurt was a little nervous, looking around the spacious house, because what kind of people could afford a house like this? It had a freaking chandelier hanging beside the tall stairs. He was fairly certain they were alone in the house, but still.

"My bedroom," Blaine said grandly, gesturing inside his room. Kurt stepped inside and Blaine said to him, "I'm going to grab some drinks from downstairs, make yourself at home."

Kurt nodded to him and Blaine gave him a short smile before he left the room. Kurt peered around, admiring the soft brown color theme, giving the room a very warm feel even though it couldn't've been more than sixty in the house. He walked around a little, stepping out of his boots and taking off his coat and scarf, laying them over the chair at Blaine's desk. His room was very clean for a teenage boy. Kurt loved having things clean, but ever since Carole and Finn moved into their home, nothing can stay clean because Finn and his dad's accumulative messiness, even with Carole's help.

He meandered around the room, spotting some tasteful posters, several toys and knickknacks scattered on dressers and shelves, but stopped when he saw the bookshelf, and the picture on top of it. It was Blaine, no doubt a few years younger, with a middle-aged woman. She was beautiful, and she shared many of Blaine's features, like his curls. But in the picture, Blaine's curls were gelled down so much they were completely undetectable, plastered to his head. He was also wearing a bow tie that corresponded with his high water pants - Blaine wasn't kidding about people assuming to know his sexuality_._ He laughed to himself and thought back to Blaine's _secret past life _or whatever as the boy in question walked back into the room.

Kurt looked over at him, carrying a tray with two glasses of water on them and a plate of apple slices. For the short amount of time he'd known Blaine, he never thought he'd be in his bedroom for one, but he never thought he'd ever think of him as this _cute._ With his old fifties aesthetics and plates of sliced fruit. Blaine set the tray down on his bedside table and walked over to Kurt as the latter held up the photograph.

"Secret past life?" he guessed. Blaine nodded, though Kurt noticed his cheeks went slightly pink. He placed the picture back in its spot and asked, "Who's that with you?"

"My mom." Blaine answered, looking at the picture fondly. Kurt was going to respond to that but before he did, his eyes caught a very interesting thing on Blaine's bookshelf.

Amongst the _Harry Potter,_ and Ellen Degeneres' autobiography, "You own Patti Lupone's new book?" he looked up at Blaine excitedly, snagging the book off the shelf. "You've actually read this book?"

Blaine grinned at Kurt's obvious excitement and said, "Yes, I've read it; I've got to fall into the stereotype somewhere."

Kurt laughed aloud, surprising himself and Blaine, before sliding the book back into its slot on the shelf. Blaine grabbed his elbow and tugged him back to his bed where he sat down and grabbed a glass of water off the tray. Kurt sat down beside him and took an apple slice.

"So what're we supposed to do?" he asked, nibbling on his apple.

Blaine shrugged. "Relax, snack, read poetry to each other, I don't know." He spread himself out on the bed, making it clear he planned on relaxing. "You can take a nap if you want, or if you _really _want –"

"Don't even go there," Kurt cut him off immediately, but still blushing.

"I'm just kidding," Blaine assured, "I was hoping it'd make you smile."

Kurt's cheeks warmed up, because it _did_ make him smile. Blaine before he scooted closer to Kurt and continued. "Or, if you want to, we could talk about it." He suggested gently.

Kurt's eyebrow furrowed at him. "Talk about what?"

Blaine shrugged. "Karofsky. The bullying. I know how hard it is, maybe talking will help." He replied, his voice still gentle as he picked up an apple slice.

Kurt stared at him for a long moment but Blaine, eating an apple, didn't notice. He actually wanted Kurt to talk to him about Karofsky? He cared? That was new. Okay, no, he knew his friends _cared_, but it wasn't like any of them had gone out of their way to make Kurt less unhappy because of it, or asked if he was okay, and didn't only mean physically.

Blaine eventually looked over when he didn't receive a response and saw Kurt staring. "What?"

Kurt shrugged. "Nothing. I just… appreciate your concern. It means a lot that you actually care."

"What are friends for?" Blaine chimed too enthusiastically, clearly trying to defuse some of the tension.

Kurt cocked his head at him. "You really want to be friends with me, don't you?"

"I think I've made that pretty clear from the beginning." Blaine responded vaguely.

"Well, I haven't exactly been _nice _to you." He said guiltily.

"Don't worry about it," Blaine said, grinning and patting Kurt's knee. "It didn't steer me away." He explained with a wink. "But seriously, do you want to talk?"

"I don't think there's anything all that unique about it; he's homophobic, I'm gay, he's a football player, I'm in glee club…" he shrugged, looking at Blaine.

"What does he do?"

"Shoves me into lockers, throws drinks at me, calls me names," Kurt listed off. "Same stuff as everybody else, just a lot more frequently."

"Why?" Blaine asked. "I mean, you can't be the only gay kid in school."

Kurt laughed. "Well, I am. Apart from you, I'm the only openly gay kid there."

Blaine was quiet for a really long moment. "You should confront him." He said finally. Kurt snorted. "Kurt, I'm serious, you should stand up to him. You know what they say, you only have to do it once."

Kurt looked at Blaine for a long moment. Blaine had nice eyes. At first they looked brown, but they were so much more complex than that. The outsides of his irises were green, but from there they were yellows and golds and browns, deepening in color the closer to his pupils. He felt like he could look into his eyes all day.

"Listen Kurt," Blaine started seriously, "I used to run away from all my problems. I used to bottle everything up and let it out on a punching bag later. I never confronted any of my bullies, I just let them take advantage of me and my unwillingness to deal with confrontation." Kurt stared at him seriously, trying to make sure Blaine knew he was listening. "I let the bullying get so bad I had to transfer schools. I don't - I don't want you to have to get to that point."

Kurt didn't say anything in response. He just stared into Blaine's shiny eyes and tried to imagine who could hurt someone like him. Who could harm the sweet boy he was talking to right now, and the dangerous tough guy the rest of McKinley seemed to identify Blaine as.

He realized it'd been awhile since either of them said anything, and he finally said, "I'll think about it."

"That's the spirit." Blaine responded, keeping his eyes on Kurt's, his voice lower than usual.

After a few more tense seconds, Blaine cleared his throat and looked away from Kurt.

Once Kurt got home and deleted the school's message of his third and fourth block tardiness from his family's answering machine, he started on dinner. He enjoyed cooking dinner for the craft, but also for the peace of mind. Plus, he and Carole had started alternating who was taking on dinner. He thought about Blaine's advice; standing up to Karofsky. He didn't want to get to the point where he had to leave McKinley, but it was easier said than done. He only agreed to do it, after school the next day, with Blaine's promise to wait for him outside for moral support.

He waited until Karofsky was alone in the locker room, guaranteed by Blaine distracting him so he was late to change for football. When he was positive he was done changing, judging by the slammed locker, he went in.

Karofsky looked over when he heard the door, and sneered at Kurt. "What the hell do you want, fairy?"

Kurt took a deep breath through his nose. He could do this, Blaine was waiting out by his car, it was just him and Karofsky. When he took more than a second to respond, Karofsky slammed his fist into the locker. "I said, what do you want, faggot?"

That got Kurt angry. "I want to know," he said slowly and deliberately. "What your problem is."

"My problem?" he repeated. "My problem is fags like you coming in here to peek at my junk, that's my problem."

Kurt's face was reddening with rage. "Oh yeah, every straight boy's nightmare – us gays are all out to molest and convert you!" he snarled. "Well guess what, Ham Hock, you're _not _my type."

His type was not assholes who bully him, or bully his friends. His type was someone who had class, someone who wasn't a psychopath, someone who wasn't assaulting him in public.

"Oh yeah?" Karofsky challenged, moving to get in Kurt's face.

"Yeah. I don't dig on boys who sweat too much and are gonna be bald by the time they're thirty." He quipped, refusing to back down, refusing to be the victim like he always was.

"Shut up!" Karofsky roared, backing up and slamming a fist into the lockers.

"Are you gonna hit me?" Kurt asked, his voice deadly low. "Do it." He dared. "You can't punch the gay out of me anymore than I can punch the ignoramus out of you!"

"Get out of my face!"

"You are _nothing _but a scared little boy who can't handle how extraordinarily ordinary you are!"

And then it happened. Karofsky grabbed the sides of his head with big, sweaty hands, Kurt thought for a split second he was going to throw him into the lockers. But then he swooped down and kissed him, with chapped lips that made Kurt think he was going to puke.

Karofsky pulled back and stared at Kurt like he was trying to understand what he'd just done, before trying to press in again. Kurt shoved him back as hard as he could, his arms shaking, unable to stop feeling Karofsky's lips on his own. Karofsky had tears in his eyes and he kicked the locker and stormed out of the locker room, toward the football field.

Kurt couldn't move, paralyzed somewhere between shock and fear. He eventually found his footing well enough to leave, walking back out to the parking lot, his expression of horrified shock on his face. He couldn't believe it. Something that was supposed to be magical turned into a nightmare. One of the most pivotal moments of a young person's existence was just defaced.

Blaine was waiting for him, sitting on the hood of Kurt's car, but his bright expression dropped when he saw the look on Kurt's face. He climbed up onto the hood beside Blaine, and the second he felt Blaine's presence around him, he was crying.

Blaine tried to pry his hands off his face and asked frantically, "Oh my god, Kurt, what happened?"

Kurt couldn't answer for a while. But once he did, he told Blaine everything that transpired, barely able to get anything out over his sobs. Blaine hugged Kurt around the shoulders once he'd heard the crux of the story. Kurt curled into him, unable to see him because of how he'd buried his face, but appreciating his presence more than he would his words.

It took a while for him to stop crying, and he probably should've been embarrassed by how much he was crying. He and Blaine were barely friends, and this was one of the only times they'd ever seen each other out of school, and Kurt was sobbing on him. He felt so pathetic.

"Kurt, I'm so sorry," Blaine said hushed once Kurt stopped crying, "I should've never told you to confront him –"

Kurt shook his head, "This isn't your fault," he promised him. "I would've snapped and said something to him eventually, it just happened sooner." Blaine didn't look comforted. "It's _not _your fault." He said firmly, staring him in the eye until Blaine eventually nodded.

Kurt turned away from him, sniffing loudly. "How pathetic is it that my first kiss with a boy was against my will?"

"Kurt…" Blaine murmured, "That wasn't a kiss. Like you said, it was against your will, that was _assault_. That definitely doesn't count. There's a really big difference between a kiss and sexual assault."

Kurt sniffed again, wiping underneath his eyes. "I guess I just don't know the difference yet."

Blaine was quiet for a moment. "Do you want to?" he asked tentatively. Kurt looked up at him. "I'm not – I'm not hitting on you, I promise. But if you want me to, I could show you the difference between what he did to you, and a kiss."

Kurt almost smiled at the gesture. "That's very sweet, but you don't have to do that."

"I owe you at least that much –"

"You don't owe me anything, because we agreed this is not your fault." Kurt cut him off briskly.

Blaine grew the smallest of grins. "Fine. I am one hundred percent a willing participant, not because I owe you or feel like I have to, but because I want to, especially if you want to."

Kurt looked at him for a few seconds before he mumbled, "I think I'd like that."

Blaine licked his lips nervously and asked, "What did he do, exactly, just so I can avoid doing the same things."

"Oh, he just um, grabbed my head and pulled me forward." He said meekly. "Honestly, I don't think repetition will be a problem."

"Okay," Blaine said. "Do you think you should initiate it? Just so it won't feel forced?"

Kurt shook his head. "No, I want you to, just so – I'll have a clearer comparison."

His ears and cheeks were pink, and he might've been embarrassed if someone other than Blaine saw it. Blaine just made him feel _safe_. Even though he didn't know him that well, he just felt like he didn't need to be embarrassed around him.

He felt his heart speed up when Blaine leaned toward him, his head tilted just a pinch to the right. Their breaths mingled for the second their faces were close before Blaine pressed their lips together. His hand cupped Kurt's cheek, brushing over his ear just slightly. Kurt could feel his heart in his ears, and he was scared because he had no idea what he was doing, but Blaine led him through it, silently telling him how to move his lips what way.

_This _was how a kiss was supposed to feel. It was supposed to make him dizzy and make his heart all fluttery, and he definitely wasn't supposed to feel scared shitless.

Blaine pulled back around the time Kurt started to feel light headed. They gave themselves a moment to even out their breathing and the let their racing hearts slow down. Kurt was smiling a little. "Thank you,"

Blaine chuckled to himself. "Anytime," he breathed.

"No, I mean," he looked at Blaine importantly. "For this afternoon."

Blaine smiled and said again, "Anytime."


	3. We're Looking for Something Dumb to do

Hello, readers! I hope you're enjoying the story so far! Just so you know, today I moved into my college dorm room so I may not be able to update as often, so here are two updates coming atcha!

**?! **

The weeks after their kiss, Kurt and Blaine became considerably closer. They walked together to and from first block, they saw each other at the end of the day, they'd even gone to Blaine's house again just to hang out. It was beautifully refreshing for Kurt, having a friend who didn't think they knew everything about him, and wanted to learn. He was glad he hadn't completely written Blaine off the first time they met, because he was actually a good friend; he brought Kurt out to coffee after school, he gave helpful advice, apart from that one scarring piece of advice.

And maybe, _maybe_ Kurt had a tiny crush on Blaine. He didn't mean for it to happen, but it just… happened. Blaine was just really charming, and he paid Kurt attention whenever they were together, and Blaine was _talented._

Kurt had to look him up online to see if Blaine was lying about his secret past life thing, and about being in glee club, but he wasn't. His choir was impressive, very, but more than that, Blaine was good at conceivably, everything. He could sing and dance and play the piano, and after Kurt begging for days straight to hear him perform live, Blaine finally sang for him, playing an acoustic Katy Perry song that Kurt didn't even _like_ before Blaine performed it, but he was listening to it all the time now.

So yeah, being a musician made Blaine even more crush-worthy, add he was a really attractive male; that obviously that hadn't escaped Kurt's notice. It also didn't help that he was the first of Kurt's crushes to actually be gay.

It also didn't help, along with paying Kurt a bountiful amount of attention, Blaine _really _wanted to take Kurt out on a date. And it probably would've annoyed the living crap out of Kurt had he not been very interested in Blaine

"Or bowling, or maybe apple picking, or –" Blaine had spent the better part of twenty minutes of their daily coffee trip suggesting dates for them, until Kurt finally cut him off.

"If I say yes to a date, will you shut up?" he asked playfully.

Blaine laughed. "You should be so lucky." He said before growing somewhat more serious. "Just one date; if it sucks, no harm done. We can do something easy, like going to the mall."

Kurt pursed his lips and mulled it over. Pro, his first date. Con, going out in public with Blaine. Pro, going out on a Friday night with someone other than Rachel or Mercedes. Con, admitting the _wanted _to go on a date with Blaine.

"I'll make you a deal." He said. Blaine raised his eyebrows curiously. "I'll go on a date with you," Blaine grew a large grin, "but first, you have to come to my dad's wedding."

Blaine's eyes lit up. "That's even better! That's like two dates!"

"_But_," Kurt said, pointing at Blaine, poking his chest across the small table. "You have to behave. That means not being disruptive, being polite to _all _the other guests, and you have to wear a suit."

Blaine nodded quickly. "I can totally do all of that." He said, running the list through his head.

Kurt bit his lip to hide his grin and Blaine's eyes fell to his lips and he added quickly, "And another thing!" Blaine looked up at his eyes. "No flirting with me."

Blaine laughed outright and Kurt pressed a hand to his chest and said, "Blaine Anderson, I'm serious." Blaine recomposed himself. "We're going to be in front of all of my friends, all of my family, and all of my dad's friends, and Carole's family, and you _cannot_ be embarrassing."

"Kurt Hummel," Blaine said, holding his hand to his chest in mock offense. "How dare you suggest I'd _embarrass _you in front of all of your family and friends!"

Kurt rolled his eyes, "I'm serious, Blaine, _no flirting._"

Blaine crossed his arms. "Fine, but we'll have to set some ground rules."

"Ground rules?" Kurt repeated skeptically, brushing up his hair with his fingers.

"Like this," he grabbed Kurt's hand. "This little hair styling thing, has gotta go."

"What's wrong with it?" Kurt asked incredulously.

"Hey, you said no flirting, so I'm telling you, no cute gestures." Kurt's jaw dropped. "I'm serious, Hummel. If I can't flirt, you can't tempt me."

"Fine, what else can't I do?" he asked.

"No licking, biting, or pursing your lips." Blaine said straight-off. "Those are all major deal breakers."

"Okay, no pet names. And, you're not allowed to compliment me." Kurt retorted.

"No compliments?" Blaine repeated. Kurt grinned and laughed at Blaine's ridiculous expression.

"There's another!" he exclaimed, Kurt's jaw fell in confusion. "Your little giggle thing, no. No way."

"I can't laugh?" Blaine shook his head firmly. "So I can't touch up my hair, I can't touch my _lips_, and I can't laugh? That's ridiculous. _You're _ridiculous."

Blaine shrugged and held up his hands defensively. "You said no flirting, I'm just making it realistic."

Kurt rolled his eyes. "Fine, deal." He said, sticking out his hand. Blaine shook his hand, a grin taking up his face.

"Now, let's get going," Blaine said, standing up with his coffee. "We have some studying to do for that history test tomorrow."

Kurt followed him out of the shop and they got into his car. They went to Blaine's house instead of Kurt's, because no one would be at Blaine's, and Kurt's dad would be at his house. And he wasn't sure he was ready for his dad and Blaine to meet quite yet. They went up to Blaine's room with their bags and sprawled their accumulative notes over the expanse of Blaine's bizarrely large bed, but not until Blaine (quite excitedly) showed Kurt a piece of crap car in his garage, probably not worth how much repairs would cost. But he just smiled, unable to derail Blaine's glee. Afterward, in his room, Blaine studied lying on his stomach, reading out of his textbook and their notes, but Kurt didn't. He sat up against the headboard, stared at Blaine's ass a little, and took out his wedding planning notebook.

Everything was already done and ordered and organized, given that the wedding was on Saturday, but he liked flicking through the laminated pages to make sure he felt confident in how the service would be going down. And when Saturday came, he did feel confident in everything, because nothing had gone wrong; the flowers were fresh and colorful, they brightened up the chapel just how he thought they would, everyone's dresses and suits were sharp and matched perfectly, and Carole looked _gorgeous_.

He walked out of the back room of the chapel where the glee club kids were all getting dressed and ready, feeling like incredibly relieved that everything was turning out well, but he was also starting to bubble over in his excitement. It was getting way too crowded where all the glee kids were changing and warming up, and he didn't have to be in a private room to tie his tie so he stepped into the hallway.

"Hey, stranger," Blaine's smooth voice came from behind him.

Kurt turned around and smiled at him before appraising his suit, a very cute, dark burgundy number with a plain black tie. "I love your suit." He said, looking it up and down. "It's a great color on you."

Blaine grinned and said, "Thank you very much." He stepped closer to Kurt. "Now, can we forget about our deal for just one minute?"

Kurt smirked and said, "Alright, one minute."

"You look great," he said with a grin. "Really great."

Kurt smiled. "Well, thank you," he said, licking his lips.

"I hope you're enjoying that." Blaine said. "Because in thirty seconds, those lips with have no tongues, and no teeth on them at _all_. So soak it up, Hummel, get your fill now."

Kurt laughed and Blaine said, "Laughing too, I guess." He grabbed both ends of Kurt's tie and pulled him a step forward.

"What are you-"

"I'm tying your tie, shut up." He said.

Kurt snorted. "Am I incapable of doing it myself?" Blaine just told him to shut up again.

**?!**

The wedding was beautiful. Blaine sat next to one of Kurt's relatives he didn't talk to as he watched. The glee club sang Carole down the aisle which was bizarre, and easily classified as unorthodox, but he liked it. Carole looked like she was enjoying herself anyways. Kurt looked at him several times throughout the service, sending Blaine coy little smiles from his spot by his dad during the reading of vows, which were thankfully short, sweet. For the first dance, about a hundred relatives plus the hired camera men jumped up with cameras, and instead of an open dance floor and everything, Finn took the mic next and dedicated the song to _Kurt._

It was a very sweet gesture, and Blaine laughed at Kurt's immediate blush and watched. The glee club sang a Bruno Mars song that Blaine enjoyed and he watched with a large grin.

After, it was announced that the food was up and ready to be served, and they were moved away from the pews and to the round, clothed tables where wait staff were waiting with steamy food. They didn't hire a DJ or anything, various members of the glee club went up to sing, and the first was Mr. Schue.

Kurt made his way over to Blaine and got to him with a grin. "Hi," he greeted him. Blaine returned it. "How'd you like the wedding?"

Blaine chuckled. "It was very nice."

Kurt ignored the rules for a minute and let Blaine compliment him a little on how well he did with this wedding, before he asked, "Do you want to meet my parents?"

Blaine's eyes widened but he was still grinning. "Do you _want _me to meet your parents?"

Kurt bit his lip, once again ignoring the rules. "I'd like that."

"Well let's go." Blaine snatched his hand, lacing their fingers together and finding narrow paths between guests to pull them through. Kurt wasn't sure if Blaine thought of holding hands as flirtatious, or romantic, but Kurt tended to. So he couldn't help but smile when Blaine held his hand as they maneuvered through the other guests. Kurt took the lead to actually approach the newlyweds as one of their friends finished talking to them.

"Dad, Carole, this is my friend, Blaine." Kurt said, dropping his hand. He was really glad Blaine was meeting his dad here opposed to a casual setting, because Blaine was wearing a very nice outfit, and he was behaving very politely. He wasn't sure how his dad would feel about his earrings, but Kurt was too happy to care.

His dad appraised Blaine quickly, not giving him as much notice as Kurt expected, just shaking his hand and introducing himself with a smile. Though that was probably just the excitement from the wedding and everything. Blaine introduced himself to Carole just as quickly, but after he turned his back to her, Carole looked at Kurt and mouthed, "cute" at him.

Kurt blushed and snagged Blaine's hand again, pulling him away from the bride and groom and over to a table. He let go of his hand as he sat down, but Blaine didn't sit with him.

"I'm gonna go grab us some food." He said, giving Kurt a quick smile and disappearing towards the buffet table. That's when Quinn sat down across from him.

"Hi, Kurt." She said with a bright smile. "I still need to say congratulations to your dad and your stepmom."

Kurt nodded. "Yeah, but they're so excited, I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't notice whether or not you did." He said, peering over at them.

She nodded. "You pulled this wedding together really nicely, everything about it turned out great."

Sam sat down beside her with a plate of food and added, "Totally, and the food tastes awesome."

"Thanks, guys." Kurt said, nodding his hello at Sam, who portioned off half of his plate to Quinn.

Quinn opened her mouth to say something, but got distracted by Blaine's sudden reappearance. He sat down next to Kurt and slid a plate of food over to him with a smile.

"Hi, Quinn, Sam." He said, and easy smile still playing on his lips.

Quinn smiled at him and shot a look at Kurt that he could best describe as somewhere between confusion and amusement. Sam seemed excited by Blaine's presence.

"Hey, man," he said, pulling Blaine into a quick sort of handshake. "I didn't know I'd be seeing you here."

"Yeah, it was sort of last minute." Blaine explained, picking things off of his plate.

"Have you guys had a chance to talk to the newlyweds yet?" Quinn asked them after coming over her shock, sipping a glass of water, the only sign of her confusion was her eyes flickering between the two boys across from her.

"Only for a minute or so; they're pretty busy." Kurt said.

Sam looked at Blaine with a grin. "What'd they think of you, man?"

Blaine shrugged. "I don't think they really noticed me. They're pretty distracted."

Sam nodded. "Yeah, and it doesn't help that you're not dressed so scary today." He added.

Blaine smirked. "You think I dress scary?"

"A little," Sam confessed. "Not like, Darth Maul scary, but sorta like Han Solo. Ya know, you're not really dressed scary, but you're dressed kinda badass, and your reputation makes it scary."

Blaine laughed. "Okay, I could do worse than Han Solo. But you gotta be C3PO."

Sam's expression dropped. "C'mon, dude, I gave you the coolest guy in the series, you gave me the lamest!"

"No," Blaine insisted, leaning on the table. "I could've given you Jar Jar Binks."

Kurt rolled his eyes at Quinn as the two boys got into an argument over Star Wars. Quinn shrugged like she was used to it, but if she was dating Sam, she must have been.

"So who's Kurt?" Sam asked, nodding to the other boy.

"Chewbacca!" Blaine said excitedly. Sam laughed and Blaine turned to Kurt. "You can be my furry side kick."

Kurt snorted. "If anyone's furry, it's you." He said, brushing over Blaine's cheek.

Blaine thumbed over his jaw haughtily. "I'm clean shaven,"

Kurt snorted. "Yeah, for once."

"Kurt's not Chewy," Sam said, his arm thrown casually behind Quinn's shoulders. "He's more Princess Leia, don't you think?"

"Ha ha," Blaine said dryly. "He should be so lucky."

Kurt scoffed, "I'd be the lucky one?" he asked, his eyebrows raised. He realized in the back of his mind, for people trying to hide their friendship, they were flirting. A lot. Kurt was smiling just a little too much, and Blaine was laughing at his jokes just a little too much, and they were making physical contact a little too much, and making eye contact _way _too much.

Quinn looked between them. "So are guys aren't together, are you...?" And there it was. Kurt had been expecting it eventually, once word of his and Blaine's friendship got out (because for some reason, straight people didn't think gay people could be friends without hooking up). Kurt also knew, however, that he and Blaine had a very playful friendship, and Blaine was charming and flirty without trying to be. And he made Kurt so happy, it was hard for him not the be a little flirty back.

But Kurt truthfully shook his head to Quinn and Blaine laughed. "No, we're not, _thank god_." He said, rolling his eyes playfully.

Kurt shot him a hard look, and Blaine put his hand on Kurt's thigh and said, "I'm kidding." He turned to Quinn without taking his hand off of Kurt. "Seriously though, no; Kurt's way out of my league."

Kurt nodded in agreement and Blaine laughed, and as a new upbeat song came on and Brittany and Santana took the stage, Sam turned to Quinn and asked, "Want to dance?"

Quinn nodded and stood up, gesturing at Kurt to join them. "Want to?" he asked Blaine as Sam pulled Quinn onto the dance floor.

"Of course!" Blaine said with a big, goofy grin. He stood up and they followed Quinn to the center of the floor, easily falling into the mix. There were mostly adults Kurt didn't know, or know very well around them, except for Mike and Tina, who were dancing to the Avril Lavine song and singing along to the lyrics.

They danced together a lot. They mingled with some people and swapped dancing partners a few times with Mike and Tina during some songs, but for the most part, they just goofed off together. And it was really fun. Blaine made him laugh and smile so much Kurt's face started to ache, and even when they drifted apart during the reception to dance with other people or get drinks, they had a habit of making it back to each other by the time the next song started.

A while later, Mr. Schue stepped up to the mic again and Blaine almost groaned at the thought of another smooth jazz number performed by him when he said, "As we near the end of our celebration, I'd just like to announce that it's now open mic."

Kurt rolled his eyes to Blaine. "Great, now all the talentless forty year olds in the room can serenade us with the best of the 70's."

"Um, watch your mouth, Kurt Hummel." Kurt raised his eyebrows. "The Beatles, Roxy music, Queen, and Fleetwood Mac are children of the 70s."

"The Beatles are the 60s-"

"Need I remind you that Let It Be came out in 1970? But that's beside the point," he said as Kurt began to protest further. "You should perform."

Kurt rolled his eyes. "Hey, I'm serious," Blaine said as Mercedes took the stage. "You haven't sung all night, and this whole wedding is your doing. It'll be doing everyone here an injustice."

"Why don't _you _sing everyone a song? I'm sure everyone would love that a lot more." He returned with a smirk.

"Because you're the talented one in this dynamic," Blaine returned quickly.

"Liar," Kurt said in a sing-song voice, "I've heard you perform. Remember? You were so good, you even got me to like a Katy Perry song."

"Well to make it fair, you perform, because I've never heard you. It's only fair."

"See, you're lying again!" Kurt said with a laugh. "I know that was you, the day we performed the Rocky Horror Picture Show in the auditorium, someone else was in there, and I know it was you."

"You have no proof." Blaine said simply, a shit-eating grin taking up his face.

"Your denial is the only proof I need." Kurt said.

Blaine rolled his eyes and held out his hand. "C'mon, let's go dance, Mercedes' super sad song is almost over."

Kurt took his hand and stood up, but said, "Sing me a song."

Blaine thought for a moment, weighing his options in his head before he said, "Okay, I'll sing for you," Kurt grinned widely. "_If_ you sing with me."

Kurt's smile fell and Blaine laughed. "C'mon, _you're _the singer. Just one little duet, that's all."

A smile wormed its way onto Kurt's face and he eventually said, "Fine. But I pick the song."

"Deal." Blaine followed Kurt up to the stage with a triumphant grin. Kurt went to the band and told started talking to them. He walked to the front of the stage with a second microphone and stand as the music started.

Blaine shot Kurt a panicked look and Kurt said, "Don't worry, you'll know it." He assured him before taking the first verse.

_I was alone, I took a ride_

_I didn't know what I would find there_

_Another road where maybe I could see another kind of mind there_

Blaine grinned when he recognized the song and adjusted the microphone to his height. Leave it to Kurt to pick the cheesiest Beatles' song _ever_.

**Ooh, then I suddenly see you**

**Ooh, did I tell you I need you**

**Every single day of my life**

People were dancing again but Blaine wasn't paying any attention to them. He knew some of them were dancing, some were watching them, but he couldn't take his eyes off of Kurt, dancing around and shooting Blaine flirtatious smiles. At least, he _thought_ they were flirtatious, but Blaine was always one for wishful thinking.

_You didn't run, you didn't lie_

_You know I wanted just to hold you_

_And had you gone, you knew in time_

_We'd meet again for I had told you_

Kurt took his mic off the stand and stepped closer to Blaine, interacting with him less robotically, and dancing around him, tangling Blaine's feet in his wires. Blaine separated his own microphone and mirrored Kurt's movements

_**Ooh! You were meant to be near me**_

_**Ooh! And I want you to hear me**_

_**Say we'll be together every day**_

_**Got to get you into my life**_

They sang in each other's faces, both of them grinning widely. Blaine knew they were flirting and that he was breaking the rules, but Kurt had been breaking his rules all day, what with the laughing and his own flirting. So yeah, he shamelessly flirted with Kurt on stage, so what? Probably no one was paying attention to them. All the guests were dancing with their significant others to the peppy song. He took a dramatic step forward and a deep breath as he started the next verse.

**What can I do, what can I be?**

**When I'm with you I want to stay there**

**If I'm true I'll never leave**

**And if I do I know the way there**

Huh. For an impromptu performance, these lyrics were really pretty close to his own feelings. He kind of had a feeling Kurt would be amazing performing, and he'd seen him as Riff Raff for a minute or so, but imagining something and seeing it for himself were two very different things. And seeing Kurt really perform was kind of amazing, because he hadn't even come close to grasping just how talented Kurt was.

_**Ooh! Then I suddenly see you**_

_**Ooh! Did I tell you I need you?**_

_**Every single day of my life**_

_**Got to get you into my life**_

They danced around each other playfully, interacting freely. This was so much better than performing alone, or listening to someone else. Blaine followed Kurt around as he ran all over the stage

_And suddenly I see you_

**Did I tell you I need you?**

_**I got to get you into my life**_

Blaine grinned at Kurt's laugh once they'd finished. There was a decent amount of applause, but Blaine didn't pay it much attention, he just followed Kurt off the stage and back onto the dance floor. Some old guy he didn't know patted him on the back with a grin, and Blaine's eyes widened.

They made it to their table in the back, snagging a water bottle on the way. He hadn't even managed to take a swig before Kurt took it from him and started drinking himself. Blaine just shook his head at him. "And you tell me I'm the flirty one."

Kurt gave back to bottle. "You are." He said with a cheeky grin. "There's only about ten more scheduled minutes to this ceremony, so I hope you enjoyed yourself."

"Oh I did," Blaine said cheekily, "it didn't help that I was constantly reminding myself that you promised me a date after this."

Kurt laughed and said, "Glad to know you're excited. I'm going to run to the bathroom, I'll be right back."

"Okay," Blaine murmured as Kurt went into the hallway. He sat down and took a drink of his water as someone walked over.

"Hi, Blaine," he looked up and saw Mr. Schue standing near him, his hands in his pockets. "I'm Mr. Schuester, I'm the Spanish teacher at McKinley."

Blaine nodded. "And the glee guy." He added. Kurt had told him enough stories to have a pretty good idea who this guy was.

He nodded eagerly. "That's right! I actually wanted to talk to you about joining." He said, bugging his eyes out in a way that was probably to show how excited he was, but it kind of just made him look _more_ like a pedophile. "You know, we're short a few members for our upcoming competition, and you have a great voice, and stage presence, and it seems like you know a few kids who are in it already. We'd really love to have you."

"I'm sorry," Blaine said, standing up. "But I'm just too busy right now for an extracurricular." He gave Mr. Schuester what was an attempt at an apologetic smile before backing out into the hallway.

He turned around and walked into someone, immediately launching into a string of apologies before he came face to face with Kurt. "Oh, it's you, never mind, I'm not sorry."

"Wow," Kurt laughed. "Okay, hello to you too." He peeked around them, glancing up and down the empty hallway. "What are you doing out here?"

"Getting away from Mr. Schuester." He said, getting a questioning look from Kurt. "He wants me to join the glee club."

"You should," Kurt said. "It'd be fun, and you're talented."

"Well, that'll cost a few more dates." He said, grinning when Kurt laughed. "And who knows, by then we could already be at second base."

Kurt's jaw dropped and his face turned red. He smacked Blaine on the arm. "You're such an ass!" he exclaimed.

Blaine laughed as slow piano music started filtering through the open doors. "Dance with me," he said, holding out his hands. "This is probably the last song of the night."

Kurt gave him a long look before taking his hands and leading him into position, holding one hand on Blaine's waist and lacing their fingers together. Blaine copied his position as the lyrics started pouring in, but he hardly noticed. Their faces were close together, and it was one of the first times he'd ever really noticed the height difference between them. It wasn't huge, but enough that he had to look up just slightly to meet Kurt's eyes. He'd have to look up just slightly to kiss him too.

_Shut up, Blaine,_ he thought to himself. No kissing Kurt, he's not actually interested, that other time was a fluke and purely for educational purposes. Although, if he wasn't interested, why would he agree to Blaine's stupid date, or invite him to the wedding, or sing that song with him, or be slow dancing with him right now?

He couldn't help himself but to ask, "Do you really want to go on a date with me?" it sounded weird, asking out loud, given _what _he said, but also that it was the first thing they'd said since they started dancing. "Because you don't have to, if you don't want to."

Kurt smiled softly and murmured, "I want to."

Blaine tried unsuccessfully to hide his smile let go of Kurt's hand, instead wrapping his arms around his waist. Kurt pulled him a little closer and wrapped his arms around his neck as Blaine ducked his head to graze his nose over Kurt's neck.

Blaine was right, that was the last song of the night, and he decided to bow out immediately after to beat the traffic out of there, leaving with his coat tucked under his arm and the wet imprint of his lips on Kurt's cheek. Kurt was still blushing a little when he walked back into reception. Everyone was packing up and saying goodbye, all except for his friends, sitting at a table together.

"Where've you been, Hummel?" Santana asked. "Brit wanted to dance with you for the last song."

"Oh, I was just-" he gestured vaguely toward the entrance, his cheeks flushing. Santana squinted at him suspiciously, but before she could say anything, his dad and Carole walked over to them, both of them grinning widely, their hands clasped together.

"Okay, we've got a flight to catch," he said as Kurt looked up at him. "We'll be back in a week, okay kid?"

He stood up and pulled his dad into a hug before hugging Carole as well. Finn did the same, and they left quickly, their cab waiting for them outside with their luggage, leaving the teenagers alone at the table.

"Kurt," Mike pulled him aside when everyone started their own conversations. "You're friends with Blaine, huh?"

"Uh, yeah. He told me you are too?"

Mike nodded with a grin. "Yeah, we're friends. Tina and I saw you guys dancing – during that last song." Kurt blushed a little and Mike laughed. "Don't worry, that's your business." He promised. "Besides, Blaine would kill me if I told someone like Santana anything about you guys."

Kurt laughed and was grateful for Mike. One reason, because he liked the thought of Blaine having friends who weren't replicas of Puckerman, and he liked that some of their friends didn't feed off of drama. Plus, he knew Tina was probably itching to tell Mercedes, which she still might, but he was glad Mike at least knew that it wasn't their information to pass around.

They left once the wait staff politely asked them to leave so they could clean up. Kurt had Finn drive them home, texting Blaine in the passenger seat. Finn was rambling about some party he wanted to throw in their new, shared house while their parents weren't home, but he didn't pay him much attention. There was a very large possibility that Finn wouldn't go through with the party at all, and even if he did, Kurt wouldn't stick around the house for it anyways.

"So how come Blaine was there?" he asked at one point.

"Oh," Kurt said, flicking his eyes over at Finn. "I uh – we're – it's kind of – we're friends." He decided, blushing.

Finn nodded slowly, stopping at a light and looking at Kurt. "He's kind of… dangerous, isn't he?"

Kurt shrugged. Blaine had a lot of rumors circling about him, but Kurt ignored them all consistently. Half of them probably didn't have a spec of truth, and honestly, if they were true, he didn't care, because that was a version of Blaine he didn't know. _His _version of Blaine was crush-worthy, and a good dancer, and very sweet. He preferred his version, so the other version didn't matter to him. "Not around me, he isn't." he answered Finn as they pulled into their driveway.

"I think you should stay away from him." Finn advised him, looking at Kurt seriously. "He has a reputation."

It was a little unfair for Finn to give that argument, given that both of his on/off girlfriends had reputations of their own, but he was just trying to look out for Kurt, so he didn't say that. "It's okay," he assured. "He's not as bad as everyone – including him – thinks he is."


	4. Magic in the Making

As they'd planned a few days previous, Kurt and Blaine met just outside the movie theater at 4:15 on the dot. It was getting too late in the year to not wear anything on top of a sweater, and Kurt was definitely wishing he'd worn a something besides a decorative scarf, waiting outside the doors. His dad had just left, after Kurt assured him Blaine was a licensed driver and capable of bringing him home, when Blaine's motorcycle pulled up. He pulled off his helmet and winked at Kurt as he stored his helmet in the back and joined him on the curb.

"I thought you were bringing me home after this." Kurt said by way of hello.

Blaine looked equally as confused. "I am."

Kurt's eyes flicked over to the parked bike. "On that?"

Blaine followed his eyes and laughed out loud when he saw what the confusion was about.

He walked towards the theater door and didn't answer, sliding his arm around Kurt's waist, and pulling him along. They walked up the empty ticket line to buy their tickets.

"Two for Love, Actually please?" Blaine said, pulling out his wallet and sliding over the money for both tickets before Kurt could even get his wallet out of his pocket.

They were handed their tickets and had their stubs ripped before Kurt said, "It's a little early in the season for a Christmas movie, don't you think?"

Blaine shook his head. "It's never too early in the season for Love, Actually."

"You didn't have to pay for my ticket." Kurt pointed out.

"Of course I did." Blaine said nonchalantly. "I asked you out, therefore, I pay."

"Well since you paid for admission, I'll buy popcorn." He said, stepping out of Blaine's hold and towards the line.

But Blaine grabbed his hand and instead pulled him to their theater. "We're not eating here."

"What? Since when do you not love indulging yourself in things you're not paying for?" Kurt inquired as they found the theater playing old Christmas movies.

"Oh, I'll indulge in something of yours, but let's have dinner first."

Kurt's cheeks blushed bright red and he pretended he didn't hear all of Blaine's previous statement.

"What dinner? We didn't agree on dinner."

Blaine shot him a quizzical look. "I didn't tell you?" He asked as he ushered Kurt into the very back row of the otherwise empty theater. "I'm taking you to dinner after the movie."

"After - taking me to - dinner - I never agreed to that!" Kurt stumbled out.

"Kurt, please just let me treat you to dinner and a movie." Blaine pouted. "If nothing else, just as friends."

Kurt wanted to backtrack, he didn't want to be _just friends_. He wanted to be friends, and maybe more. Needless to say, his crush on Blaine hadn't gone away between the wedding and this date. And Blaine was _cute. _And ever since he and Kurt had gotten close, Kurt no longer found Blaine very annoying, and he'd grown to love the flirtatious dance they've been doing.

"Hey Kurt," Blaine said somewhat hesitantly. "Can I ask you something?"

Kurt brought them into the correct theatre and chose seats near the back and said, "Yeah, Blaine of course."

"I was just wondering…" Blaine seemed uncharacteristically uncomfortable. "How - how much experience do you have with - with relationships, and with sex?"

Kurt blanched. That was _not _what he was expecting Blaine to ask and he was completely thrown, on top of the fact that he was incredibly uncomfortable with sex to begin with.

He looked at Blaine with wide eyes and his mouth gaping, unsure what to tell him. Blaine met his eyes and saw the discomfort written on his face. "Have you ever had a boyfriend?" He asked instead. "I know - I know about your first kiss," Kurt blushed. Blaine knew that story _very_ well. "But have you _done _anything else? With anyone else?"

"Um," Kurt started, his voice high. "Not - not really."

Blaine nodded understandingly. "Okay. So you've never…" He trailed off, not needing to say anything more as Kurt started shaking his head no.

"The only relationship I've ever had was with Brittany." Blaine did a double take. "I was trying to be straight in a failed attempt to bond with my dad. All we did was make out." Kurt mumbled, his face burning.

Kurt was embarrassed. He didn't know _how _experienced Blaine was, but he knew he was more experienced than him. Look at him, for god's sake, he's probably had people chasing after him since he hit puberty.

"Kurt," Blaine said softly, placing his hand on Kurt's thigh. "You're not embarrassed are you?" Kurt neither responded nor looked at him. "Kurt, you have nothing to be embarrassed about. I'm sorry I said anything, we just haven't really talked about it at all - and I don't want to make you uncomfortable-"

Kurt looked up at Blaine as he cut himself off, thinking he was saying too much. "It's okay," he said. "I'm sure this would come up eventually. I've never seriously dated anyone, or seen anyone I - I have about the sexual appeal and experience of a baby penguin." He finished, flushing.

"Baby penguin?" Blaine repeated and Kurt looked up. "Kurt - I don't think you understand how attractive you are to me." Kurt shook his head in disbelief. "Seriously. I - I've had a few fantasies involving you." He finished, blushing a deep red.

Kurt gaped at him. _Blaine, _the intensely attractive boy, universally recognized as hot, has fantasized about _Kurt. _

"What - what have you fantasized about?" He asked, biting his lip.

Blaine was now the one bright red and embarrassed, and he muttered, "You know making out and stuff, going down on you, stuff like that."

Kurt's jaw dropped. "You want to go down on me?" He asked incredulously. Blaine finding him physically attractive was a feat in its own respect. Blaine found him _sexually _attractive. That was utterly absurd to Kurt.

"Yeah, kind of," Blaine admitted. "Sorry if that makes you feel uncomfortable."

Kurt shook his head, "No, no, it kind of makes me feel really good." Blaine looked up at him curiously. "To know that someone as attractive as you finds me attractive. And I've never had it happen before, but I'm sure it's - nice." Kurt finished, blushing and unable to think of a better adjective.

Blaine licked his lips and stared at Kurt for a long moment before he said, "Do you want me to go down on you?"

Kurt felt someone shift in his stomach and he was suddenly feeling very hot. "In a movie theatre?!" He asked incredulously.

Blaine shrugged innocently, "Well we're the only ones in here." He said reasonably. Kurt balked as the lights dimmed. "See, it's the universe giving us a hint.

Kurt snorted. "No, it's the theater telling us the movie's starting." he just looked into Blaine's large, gorgeous eyes and out of nowhere, he heard himself speak before he registered what he was saying. "I want you to go down on me."

Kurt's cheeks flushed after he said it but his eyes stayed resolutely on Blaine's. "Are you sure?" Blaine whispered. Kurt nodded and Blaine took a deep breath, his eyes bright with excitement. "Let me know if you change your mind, okay?"

Kurt nodded again and Blaine slid out of his seat and moved in front of Kurt, sliding his hands up Kurt's legs until he reached his belt buckle.

"Don't people usually just lean over the seat in a movie theater?" Kurt asked, his face already flushed. His stomach was in knots, and he felt as if he'd swallowed something very hot.

Blaine kneeled so his face was almost up to Kurt's, his fingers still working on the belt. "Not for your first time."

Blaine surprised him by instead of going back down to the floor, climbing onto Kurt's seat and straddling his lap.

"What in god's name are you doing?" Kurt asked in a sharp whisper.

"I want to get you hard first." Blaine whispered in return before he started sucking on Kurt's neck.

Kurt's breath hitched as Blaine's started licking and kissing all over his neck and jaw line, and he couldn't hold in the moan that escaped his lips. Blaine kept kissing Kurt's neck and cheeks, though for all the slobbering he did on Kurt's face, he wasn't going near Kurt's lips. His hands roughly untucked Kurt's shirt and slid around his back, lifting the fabric as high as he could without actually taking Kurt's shirt off.

Once Blaine felt the growing bulge in Kurt's jeans did he finally stop kissing his neck, and kneel on the floor.

He unbuttoned Kurt's jeans, and smiled up at Kurt, looking at him from underneath his eyelashes as he slowly started stroking Kurt's cock.

Kurt swallowed heavily and tried to prepare himself as Blaine took his cock in his mouth. It was an incredibly weird sensation. Blaine's mouth wasn't doing anything, but it was warm, and wet, and he could feel his hot tongue sliding around the underside of his cock, and he wasn't sure how he felt about it until Blaine started sucking.

Kurt's breath was lost in a dissipated way, and he glanced down at Blaine's head bobbing up and down. He'd never understood blow jobs before, but he was starting to. He wasn't sure of his position on giving them, but they felt very, very nice and oh god-

Kurt could feel something hot filling up his stomach, and he knew what was going to happen if Blaine didn't immediately stop.

"Blaine I'm gonna - if you don't -" he tried to mumble out.

Blaine just took him deeper in his throat and Kurt's head fell back and he moaned a disgustingly loud moan for a movie theater blowjob, as the muscles in his stomach uncoiled and he finished.

Blaine swallowed all of it, and lingered for only a moment before coming off of Kurt's cock with a proud grin on his face. Kurt zipped up his jeans and resituated himself as Blaine climbed back into his own seat.

It wasn't until then he noticed the movie had already started. He turned to Blaine, who was already looking at him with a smug little smirk on his face.

"How do you feel?" Blaine prompted.

Kurt took a moment to answer. "Tired."

Blaine laughed loudly and threw his arm around Kurt's shoulders. "That's normal. Just enjoy the movie, okay?"

Kurt laid his head on Blaine and nodded, his arms going around Blaine's waist, his eyelids drooping.

He doesn't remember falling asleep. But he woke up, his legs curled up, his face buried in Blaine's jacket. He peeked up and saw Blaine quoting the movie as it played, unaware of Kurt's current awakeness.

Maybe it was his current drowsiness, or the minimal lighting, but Blaine looked gorgeous in that moment. The screen was lighting up his face, his eyes looked even larger than usual, and his curls were falling onto his forehead in the most adorable way, his full lips moving along with the cheesy words.

The corners of Kurt's mouth turned upward, and Blaine must've felt it, because he almost immediately glanced down at Kurt.

"Sleeping Beauty's finally awake." He said idly.

Kurt just smiled. "You've seen this movie a lot?" He asked. "You were quoting it."

Blaine's cheeks darkened, and Kurt's curiosity grew. "Sort of." He admitted.

Kurt giggled and Blaine stuck his tongue out at him. "You're a brat," he told him.

Kurt laughed again. "You're cute."

"Wow, you must be really tired," Blaine pointed out with a grin. "Maybe I should get you home."

"Nope," Kurt retorted. "You promised me dinner."

Blaine laughed. "That's true. I guess I'll take you out to dinner first." He teased, sounding as if it were the most tedious thing in the world to be doing.

Kurt pressed a kiss onto Blaine's jaw line and turned his head back to the scene changed. There was only about 45 minutes left of the movie, but Kurt had seen it so many times he understood what was happening. 

Kurt couldn't help looking up at Blaine throughout the rest of the movie. Blaine was so handsome. The kind of handsome you want to show off to your friends because he's _yours._ Blaine had really nice lips. They were plump and full and they looked so, _so _kissable.

Why didn't Blaine kiss him? They crossed a first off of Kurt's list, and Kurt wouldn't be surprised if he found a hickey on his neck. But Blaine didn't kiss him. He really wanted to kiss him.

By the time they got out of the movie, Kurt was fully awake again, and so hungry his stomach felt like it was trying to eat itself, so he didn't pretend to put up an argument over going to dinner.

Blaine gave Kurt what must've been a riding jacket, not that Kurt was all that familiar with them. It was too big on him, and smelled very strongly of gasoline, but also of Blaine, and it was colder than he was going into the movie so he put it on without complaint.

It was only once he was handed a helmet were they faced with a problem.

"That's going to ruin my hair."

"Seriously?"

Kurt turned to Blaine and bugged his eyes out emphatically. "Yes. Do you know how much effort I put into my hair in the morning?"

Blaine took the helmet from Kurt's hands and said, "You have to wear a helmet. Or you could actually die."

Kurt didn't really know why he was putting up a fight. There was no way in hell he'd go on a motorcycle without a helmet (not that he wanted to go on a motorcycle at all), and he knew Blaine was being responsible and sensible, he just kind of liked seeing Blaine get frustrated. His eyes narrowed ever so slightly, his jaw clenched, his eyebrows furrowed.

He put on the helmet with some coaxing from Blaine, and Blaine got on the bike. Kurt hesitantly got on behind him but kept a few centimeters between them.

Blaine snorted and turned his head toward Kurt. "You're gonna have to hold on."

He wrapped his arms around Blaine's torso and holding him a little too tight as Blaine started the bike and kicked them off toward the road.

Kurt laid his head on Blaine's back the whole ride and watched the buildings and cars fly by. He was actually okay with riding a motorcycle if he stopped thinking about what he was doing.

Blaine pulled them into some little Vietnamese place in west Lima Kurt had never been to, but Kurt didn't let go of him immediately.

"Kurt," Blaine's gentle voice murmured over his shoulder. "You're gonna have to let go of me if you want to eat."

Kurt blushed and slid his arms off of him and let Blaine get off the bike first.

Kurt started toward the door, and Blaine followed him, walking in and ordering their table. It took no time at all for them to be seated, since the restaurant was mostly empty.

He was nervous. This was like a first date, well, it was their first date. He couldn't stop his hands from shaking at least a little when he was handed his menu and read it a couple times, it only had a dozen options, and he looked up at Blaine sort of helplessly.

"I've never had Vietnamese food before." He said blandly.

Blaine smirked and asked, "Need help ordering?"

Kurt nodded and Blaine laughed under his breath and Kurt kicked him under the table. He grinned up at him and shrugged defensively, and laid his menu flat and showed it to Kurt. He pointed to the third thing on the menu. "Spring rolls, you'd probably like. They're just veggies wrapped in rice paper. If not, I'd go with classic stir fry."

Kurt nodded slowly and their waitress came over. She greeted them quickly.

"What do you want to drink?" Blaine asked Kurt quietly as their waitress rambled something he couldn't understand.

"Water's fine,"

Blaine ordered for them, and nodded when the waitress prompted, "Miso soup?"

"What would you like?" Blaine asked Kurt.

"Stir fry," Kurt answered, but it sounded more like a question.

Blaine ordered for him again, getting spring rolls himself, and their waitress departed. Blaine smiled softly at Kurt for a moment before he said, "So you've never eaten Vietnamese."

Kurt shook his head. "Nope. The only 'diverse' food I eat is French cuisine."

"French." Blaine repeated. "Do you cook?"

Kurt nodded. "Sometimes. Mostly desserts though." He gazed around at the high ceilings of the restaurant and asked, "So do you come here often?"

Blaine snorted loudly and laughed into the table, laying his forehead down on it. "That's the most cliché pickup line ever."

Kurt blushed and said, "No, no, not like that. Honest question."

Blaine just laughed. "I'm sure that's what you mean. You're just trying to steal my virtue."

"Well that implies you have any kind of virtuous quality about you." Kurt retorted.

Blaine's jaw dropped but he was still laughing. He didn't have time to respond before their waitress came back over with their waters and soups.

Kurt glanced down at his tiny bowl and asked, "What is this?"

"Miso soup. It's good, you'll like it." Blaine explained, unwrapping his silverware from their napkin and grabbing his spoon. "This place gives it out as a sort of appetizer."

Kurt scooped a spoonful and eyed the brown liquid warily before sipping it. He wasn't sure what he was expecting, but this was a lot better. On the saltier side though.

They sipped their soup in relative silence for a while, sneaking shy glances at each other when they thought the other wasn't looking. When their food came out, Kurt realized he didn't have a fork. Just chopsticks and a spoon.

Blaine noticed the distressed look on his face. "Don't know how to use chopsticks?" Kurt shook his head. "It should be easy for you, you're handy with your fingers."

Blaine slid over to Kurt's side of the booth and took the chopsticks sitting beside him. He handed one to Kurt, "Hold this one how you'd hold a pencil," he instructed, placing the other between two fingers and directing him which fingers to hold it with.

Blaine went back to his seat and Kurt dug into his bowl, and ate the steaming food, which was chicken, rice, and a lot of vegetables.

"How is it?" Blaine asked, using his chopsticks without needing to think about what he was doing.

Kurt shrugged. "It's alright. How's yours?"

Blaine smirked. "It's one of my favorite things on the menu." He picked up a spring roll and held it out to Kurt. "Try it."

Kurt took a bite off the end and hummed happily. "That's good," he commented.

Blaine pushed his plate over to Kurt and grabbed his stir fry. "Let's trade."

Kurt pushed the plate towards Blaine and said, "No, you don't have to do that."

Blaine pushed it back. "You like that one better, so eat it. I like both, so I am happy with either."

Kurt didn't protest, knowing Blaine would never let him win. They just enjoyed dinner together and it was… wonderful. Everything about it was wonderful. Even though he felt like he had no idea what he doing most of the time. The way the kitchen nearby made them comfortably warm, and the minimal lighting kept up a mysterious atmosphere, and the food, and Blaine, was all perfect. Even more perfect, because he didn't expect it to be. He was crushing on Blaine and all, but it seemed like he just wouldn't be good in a real date situation, but he was.

The compliments were all sweet but not overdone, he laughed at Kurt's jokes but didn't force it, he fed Kurt bites of his food across the table, and he played footsie with him under the table and held his hands over it… So yeah, by the end of the night, he was definitely crushing on Blaine more than before.

When they walked out of the restaurant and to Blaine's motorcycle hand in hand, Kurt couldn't remember the last time he'd been that happy. He wanted to skip.

It didn't take long for them to get back to Kurt's house. Blaine cut the engine to his bike and got off with Kurt. Kurt held out his helmet to him.

"Keep it," Blaine said. "You're the only person who's ridden with me before."

Kurt's eyes widened as he held the helmet between his hands. "Really?" He asked.

Blaine nodded. Kurt hugged the helmet to his chest and started toward the front door with Blaine by his side. They stopped once they reached the door, and the censor light turned on.

"Thanks for taking me out. It was fun." Kurt said with a smile.

Blaine grinned. "My pleasure. It's not every day a beautiful boy agrees to go on a date with me."

Kurt's cheeks warmed up, and he shyly flicked his eyes to the ground and back at Blaine. "So this was a real date for you?"

The question seemed to amuse Blaine, and he grew a broad grin. "Of course it was." He said as if it was the most obvious thing.

Kurt bit his lip to hide his grin. "Well I had a lot of fun," he said after a pause.

"Yeah," Blaine agreed. "Can't wait till next time; it'll be your turn to pay."

"Next time?" Kurt teased. "Who says there'll be a next time?"

Blaine wrapped his arms around Kurt's waist. "Oh hilarious, Hummel. Honestly, you're so funny."

Kurt laughed. "I know, I'm very funny."

Blaine hugged him around the waist and held him for a minute. Before he could fully let go though, Kurt said, "Wait," and held his arms around Blaine's neck. Blaine caught up with the shift in mood but let Kurt control it.

Breath, Kurt. Just relax. For once, he listened to his inner monologue and stopped thinking. And he slowly, slowly leaned forward with his head tilted and kissed Blaine's lips softly.

He was kissing a boy. He, Kurt Hummel, was kissing a boy. A really, really cute boy. And it wasn't to counteract an awful experience, it was because they wanted to kiss each other. Blaine captured his lips in a few more tentative kisses before pulling back and murmuring, "I really like kissing you."

Kurt giggled. "I really like kissing you too."

Blaine smiled at him and held him around the waist. Kurt tightened his hold around Blaine's neck and leaned forward, pressing their lips together again. His nerves had melted away, because he was tired of being nervous. He was being kissed dizzyingly by a boy he'd been thinking about kissing again since their first brief kiss.

Blaine pulled back suddenly with a forlorn expression and blurted out, "I really wish he never kissed you."

He was still thinking about Karofsky. "Hey, hey," Kurt said, gripping the back of Blaine's neck and looking at him importantly. "We agreed that wasn't your fault, remember?"

He nodded slowly and looked away from Kurt. "I know, I just –" he sighed. Kurt made Blaine look him in the eye again before he answered, "I just wish it hadn't happened."

"Me too," Kurt said honestly. "But now there's nothing to do but move on. Besides, it's a lot more fun to kiss you than it is to think about kissing him." Blaine grew the ghost of a smile. "Okay?"

Blaine nodded and said, "Okay."

Kurt smiled and didn't have to say anything else. He leaned forward and kissed Blaine deeper, letting him hold him tighter.

"Kurt is that you - oh." Carole Hudson walked out, quite interrupting.

Kurt pulled his lips away from Blaine's in record time as Carole stared in shock. She blushed like Kurt, only Blaine seemed unperturbed. Kurt let his arms slide from around Blaine's neck, and Blaine pressed one last kiss onto his red cheek and murmured in his ear, "Goodnight," before walking back to his bike and letting it roar to life.

Blaine was gone quickly, and Carole ushered the still blushing Kurt into the house. Even though he didn't want to, Kurt knew Carole wanted to talk, so he sat down at the dining room table. She sat across from him with a smile on her face.

"So who's that?" She asked.

Kurt blushed again for no reason. "That's- that's, um- that's my- Blaine." He managed, growing redder with every word.

Carole raised her eyebrows and her mouth fell open in understanding. "He's the boy you brought to the wedding."

"Yeah," he barely squeaked out a reply.

She nodded and looked very much like she was trying not to laugh. "And how long has he been 'your Blaine' for?"

Kurt was pretty sure he couldn't get any redder. "I met him at the start of the school year. He was a new transfer student. We're friends."

She nodded slowly. "Pretty close, I guess." Kurt's gaze dropped to his hands in his lap. "So are you dating?" She asked.

"Kind of?" he responded. "I mean, we've gone out a few times, but that was the first confirmed date."

Carole paused for a moment. "He's cute." She said with a cheeky smile.

Kurt blushed darker and glanced up at her. "Yeah," he agreed.

Carole grinned. "You're lucky your dad wasn't home. He would've thrown a fit seeing you come home with a boy on a motorcycle."

Kurt rolled his eyes. "Please, he used to ride a motorcycle." Carole giggled, probably at the thought of his dad on a motorbike. "Where is he anyways?"

"He left to bring Finn to Puck's ten minutes ago." She said. "So where were you guys?" She asked.

"We went to the movies. And then dinner." Kurt said. He'd noticed he was going pink with every mention of Blaine. Why was he doing that?

Carole's eyes fell appraisingly onto the jacket he was wearing. "Am I right to guess that's his?"

Kurt glanced down and smiled fondly at the slightly too big, worn, navy blue jacket. "Yeah. It's his spare riding jacket."

Carole smiled at him with an odd sort of maternity he hadn't seen her look at him with. The kind of way she looked at Finn whenever he said something endearingly stupid, or mentioned his dad.

"Thanks for talking to me, sweetheart. I know this 'new mom' thing must've been as weird for you as it's been for Finn." She said.

Kurt shook his head slowly. "It's never been that weird. A little awkward at first, but… I like it."

Carole took his hand across the table and grinned. "Me too, sweetheart." She pulled away her hand before she asked, "So did you have fun tonight?"

He wasn't even surprised anymore when his cheeks turned pink. "Yeah. I had a lot of fun."

"Good," Carole murmured. "You deserve it." She stood up and started walking back to the living room. She turned at the doorway and said to him, "You better hide that helmet before your dad gets home. Former biker or not, we both know he won't have the best reaction in the world."

Kurt laughed and nodded. He picked up the helmet and went upstairs to his room before dumping it on the floor near his closet.

He pulled his phone out of his jeans and saw he had a few messages from Blaine.

So first question, who was that? I hope you're not in trouble or anything.

Also, I had a lot of fun tonight, and I didn't get a real chance to say goodbye earlier, so goodbye.

Kurt smiled and fell back on his bed and started texting Blaine back. That's my stepmother, Carole. You met her at the wedding, remember? She's Finn's mom, and I'm not in trouble. If it were my dad, I might've been.

Oh, would daddy dearest not approve of me?

Not if he knew you just called him 'daddy dearest'

Can I call you?

Kurt smiled and replied with a quick yes, and waited for his phone to ring. When it did, he nearly dropped it in his haste to pick it up.

"Hi," he smiled into the phone.

"Hi," Blaine returned.

They were both quiet for a moment before Blaine said, "I really am glad you came out with me."

"Me too." Kurt murmured. "But um, how did you get home so quickly? It took you like, five minutes to text me."

"Oh, I'm at Mike's house."

"Hi, Kurt!" Mike's voice came, sounding distant like he was yelling from across the room.

They talked for a little while, apparently Blaine and Sam were spending the night at Mike's for a video game marathon, and Blaine decided to sit the first round out after Mike and Sam yelled at him for pausing the game to text back. Kurt blushed at hearing that, but tried to remain casual. They only stayed on the phone for a few more minutes. Kurt and Blaine weren't a couple. They'd kissed a few times and Blaine gave him head, but as much as Kurt wanted to be in a relationship with Blaine, he wasn't sure he was ready for a relationship. Especially since their friendship is still so new. And he didn't think Blaine was ready for a relationship either, since he's really just gotten acquainted to McKinley, he probably didn't want to rock the boat so quickly into things.

So instead of worrying about their relationship status, he enjoyed texting him. He felt like most of the conversations he held with people over the internet or over text were forced, like they didn't know what to say or something, but there was no problem like that with Blaine. There would be a few minutes of silence when Blaine had to set down his phone to race in Mario Kart, or when Kurt would be texting Mercedes, but everything they talked about was effortless. It was just easy for them to talk.

Which is how Kurt let slip about a solo he got for sectionals, which in turn made Blaine type in all capital letters to illustrate his excitement, and to also yell at Kurt for not telling him immediately.

It was still really surprising to Kurt that he and Blaine were friends, especially as close friends as they were. He still felt like he was getting to know Blaine on a fundamental level, though they still shared secrets and kisses like they'd been friends for years. He felt like he could trust Blaine over most all of his other friends.

He fell asleep that night still thinking about Blaine, picturing how their next date would go, wondering if Blaine would kiss him again, or if he'd kiss Blaine. It was easy to get lost in how much he liked Blaine, even with Mercedes and Finn texting him while he tried to go to sleep new rumors they heard about Blaine, like how he's juvenile and whatever. Even if was true, Blaine made him think people could change, because if that was the old Blaine, or secret past-life Blaine, it was really different than current Blaine. And Kurt really liked current Blaine, and current Blaine really liked him too.


	5. Watching You's the Only Drug I Need

Blaine decided to get tulips. Tulips, because he needed to bring some kind of flower, and tulips smelled great and came in many different colors, and he didn't want to get roses or anything, because roses were kind of intense. And these flowers didn't need to be intense, they needed to be_ I think that you're amazing and I came to see you perform because you're important to me_ without being too much. He thought, after he picked tulips, that everything else would be a walk in the park, but boy was he wrong.

After picking the type, he had to decide what color, and whether they should be solids or variegated, long stemmed or not, and how many he should get. So he just decided to get a dozen because that's pretty simple, and red because he just kind of had an idea that red would look great on Kurt.

He also decided to not take his bike, because he didn't want to ruin the flowers or anything, and since he wasn't done fixing up his car, he took his Aunt Mary's car. The competition was held at a theater he'd been to once or twice, so it took no time to get there. He hadn't actually told Kurt he would be attending, but Kurt had a solo, there was no way he could just not go.

So there he was, sitting by himself in the middle of a crowded auditorium with a bouquet of flowers on his lap. He hadn't wanted to see Kurt before his performance, just in case his attendance would make him more nervous, so he ducked in rather quickly when he got there. He just hoped he'd be able to see him alone after the show.

The old woman sitting next to him glanced down at the flowers with a grin. "Those for someone special?" she asked in a wheezy voice.

Blaine smiled and shook his head. "Just a friend, I'm afraid."

She giggled and grabbed his cheek. "Well with looks like these, they won't be a friend for much longer, dear." She said, laughing to herself again.

Blaine laughed and massaged his cheek. For an old lady, that was quite a grip. "What's her name?" she asked.

"It's – my friend – my friend's actually a boy." He said, waiting for some kind of a negative reaction.

She didn't seem to mind though. "What's his name?"

"Kurt." He answered, unintentionally gripping his flowers too tight in his hand.

"Is he cute?" she asked eagerly as her aged voice would allow.

Blaine bit on his lip to hide his smile and ducked his head when his cheeks turned pink. For whatever reason, talking about the guy he had a crush on with a stranger old lady was a little too much for his Saturday night.

"Yeah, he is."

She nodded with a smile. "You'll have to point him out when he goes on." A moment of silence passed before she said, "My grandson is a homosexual as well. His name's Bryan, do you know him?"

Blaine barely held back his laugh. Old people had this sort of tendency to assume all gay people, or black people, or any minority for some reason just knew each other, Blaine personally thought it was kind of endearing. "No, I'm afraid I don't."

"He's having a baby." She informed him proudly. "I haven't met the mother, but he's been with David for quite some time now." She looked at Blaine again and asked, "What's your name?"

"Blaine," he said, holding out his hand.

She grinned. "My name is Candice." She said, shaking his hand and looking at his face for a long moment. "You remind of my husband. Jeremy. He's performing tonight with the glee club from his continued education program. He has a solo."

"Kurt has a solo too!" he said too enthusiastically.

Candice laughed. "Our boys are just too talented, huh?" she winked at him and patted Blaine's hand.

Blaine got more comfortable in his chair as the lights dimmed. Once they were introduced by some big, uncomfortable looking guy introduced them, the Hipsters came out. They performed an old Mike and the Mechanics song, and when a balding man started belting the bridge, Candice leaned towards Blaine and whispered as quietly as she could, "That's Jeremy."

The next group was, believe it or not, the _Warblers_. The Dalton Academy _Warblers_. As in, Blaine's previous glee club group. Mind, the last time he attended Dalton was first semester Sophomore year, but if Blaine was being completely honest, his heart still belonged there. He escaped to Dalton freshman year when the bullying at his old public high school got so bad he couldn't handle it. Dalton was extremely expensive, so when Blaine's mom get sick and they could barely cover doctor's bills, he could only afford to attend through scholarships (both academic and art), and his dean taking pity on him and his mom. But when Blaine had to pick up multiple jobs to help pay his mom's bills, he couldn't go to school. He didn't have the time. So after first semester ended, he didn't go back. Of course, it's not legal for someone underage to simply not go to school, and he started taking online courses until he started at McKinley. And he _missed_ Dalton. He was starting to enjoy McKinley, and definitely his friendship with Kurt, but if he were to seriously consider going back to Dalton… he might not be able to resist.

Two of his closest friends, Wes and David still went there. Blaine hadn't seen them in years; Wes was his best friend growing up, he lived right next door. Blaine went to school with him and David until high school, when Wes and David went to Dalton and Blaine jumped around a couple times from school to school. 

The Warblers were fantastic. Truly fantastic. Blaine knew he was biased, because they were phenomenal when he was a part of the group, but he definitely thought the New Directions would have some competition.

There was an intermission after the Warblers, in which Candice went to the bathroom, and Blaine texted Kurt from auditorium to green room.

**Break a leg  
**  
_What do you mean?_

**A little birdie (being you) told me you have a solo**

_Wait, are you here?_

**Of course I am. I even made a friend. Her name is Candice. Her husband's a hipster**

_Oh my god YOU'RE HERE?!_

_Why didn't you tell me you were coming?!_

**Surprise?**

Candice came back to her seat and peered at Blaine's phone. "I don't know how you can read that, it's so tiny."

"This is my friend, Kurt."

She grinned and said, "Oh, tell him good luck!"

**Candice said good luck**

_Thank Candice for me. Oh god we're going on, I'll see you after the show!_

Blaine didn't respond because the lights dimmed. The New Directions were announced and he fidgeted in his seat as a crew member came out with a single microphone stand and Kurt walked out wearing a maroon shirt and black pants, his hair done up as always.

"That's Kurt," he whispered to Candice.

Blaine couldn't take his eyes off of him, even if he wanted to, he wouldn't have been able to. Something he didn't experience when he sang with Kurt was how unprecedented his stage presence was. Not that he couldn't tell he didn't belong on stage singing with him, but watching him was entirely new, because he owned the stage. He demanded attention, he looked so perfect, like he lived on the stage, and it was remarkable. There wasn't a trace of uncertainty in his expression as the music started.

His jaw dropped when Kurt sang the first note, because he still couldn't get over how amazing his voice was, and he was singing Barbra Streisand. He wished he could've seen the look on Rachel Berry's face when Mr. Schue gave Kurt this song. He might've been prejudiced, but he liked Kurt's version of the song better than the original.

Kurt didn't need anything flashy to enhance his performance, he was perfect on his own; there was no fancy lighting or distracting dancers, he was all on his own and Blaine grew such a proud smile when Kurt belted out _and this time will be bigger!  
_  
When he finished, Blaine was the first person to stand up, clapping and hollering, closely followed by Candice. The rest of the audience stood up as well, and Kurt actually blushed under the tumulus applause. When it died down and Blaine took his seat, the curtains drew, and he thought for a second they only had one song on their set until two spotlights hit the back curtains and music started up.

Sam and Quinn came out singing, and Blaine was positive Sam saw his grin. He was glad Schue had changed it up for this competition, because Sam was a good singer, and Quinn had a lovely voice, and he didn't really want Gigantor and Nose singing at him for three songs.

When they ran up to the stage, the curtains blew open and immediately his eyes found Kurt. He was doing the same simple movements as everyone else, but god, Kurt was just so attractive, it made him so much more enthralling than everyone else. After, was Santana's Amy Winehouse solo with Brittany and Mike dancing, and their impressive visuals actually captured his attention enough to keep his eyes off of Kurt.

After the final performance, the audience gave them another standing ovation and as they sat down again, the Warblers and Hipsters came back out for the judging. The uncomfortable guy came out as well and after a creepy message about organ donation, announced the Hipsters in third.

He clapped respectively, beside him, Candice was grinning widely. He tensed in his seat as the guy started talking again. "And the winner is…" he opened the envelope and Blaine held his breath. "It's a tie." He said lamely. "You're both moving on to the regionals!"

There was some vague applause, but Blaine just paid attention to the groups on stage; Wes was there, shaking hands with Mr. Schue, David was celebrating with Trent and Nick, whom Blaine missed from Dalton. He saw Kurt on the other side of the stage jumping up and down with Rachel.

The groups shuffled off the stage with their trophies and the house lights came on, Blaine said goodbye to Candice and hurried backstage, looking for Kurt, passing many members of the Hipsters and New Directions. But before he found him he heard his name being called. He turned around and spotted Wes and David looking at him in disbelief, David with a grin that was taking up his face.

Blaine grinned widely at them and at once, the three of them ran to each other. David practically pulled Blaine off of his feet hugging him, as he truly was that much taller than him.

"Blaine I can't believe you're here!" Wes exclaimed, his grin taking up his face.

David clapped him on the shoulder. "It's so good to see you, Blaine, but if you don't mind me asking, why are you here?"

Then Wes noticed the tulips he was gripping. "Blaine Anderson," he said, his grin growing wider. "Do you have a boyfriend?" He asked a little too loudly.

Blaine blushed. "Not really," he said. "I'm sort of seeing someone but it's not - it's not that official yet."

"Who is he?" David asked, looking around the room.

"His name's Kurt, we go to school together, he's on the New Directions. He sang the Streisand song." Blaine said proudly.

Wes whistled. "Wow." He said, as David nodded in agreement. "You sure know how to pick 'em."

Blaine laughed and David asked, "So how come you weren't competing today? If I do recall, Blaine Anderson is pretty damn talented."

"A star, really." Wes agreed teasingly. "Seriously, why aren't you singing anymore."

Blaine's smile faded as he answered. "Well you know why I stopped…" Wes and David nodded, "and until recently I hadn't really had the time or the inspiration."

"Hopefully that'll change," David said, "I'd love to kick your ass at regionals."

Blaine laughed, "As if," he teased.

Wes dropped his voice somewhat. "How are you doing Blaine? Have things gotten… Better?" He asked slowly.

Blaine nodded. "Life isn't perfect… but it's a lot better."

Wes and David both broke into grins. "Good to hear." Wes said. "Even if you're our competition, we love you, Blaine."

Blaine hugged both of them again, and just as it seemed like the Warblers were ready to leave, Kurt walked over to them.

"Kurt!" Blaine exclaimed, a grin blooming on his face. Kurt smiled at him and visibly melted when Blaine handed him the bouquet. "I need to introduce you to some people," he said, turning Kurt to his friends. "These are my best friends, Wes and David."

Wes and David introduced themselves to Kurt and instantly congratulated him on the tie, and his solo. "It was breathtaking," David said. "Honestly, I haven't been that affected by a singular performance since the last time I saw Blaine perform."

Blaine flushed and shushed him. Kurt raised his eyebrows at him. "You've seen Blaine perform?"

David looked at Kurt in surprise. "Blaine didn't tell you?" Blaine dropped his head, embarrassed at all the attention he was getting. "Blainey here," David tugged Blaine beside him, "Used to be our shiny little star."

"Shut up," Blaine mumbled, feeling like the talented kid an overly involved parent was showing off.

"Seriously," Wes insisted, "When Blaine went to Dalton he was one of our featured soloists."

Kurt looked between the two of them, apparently checking to see if they were lying. Blaine's face was still red when Wes checked his watch. "We'd better get going, it's a long drive back to Westerville." he said, signalling to the other Warblers to get ready to go.

"Wait, wait," David said quickly. "Wes, you can't seriously expect me to let you drag me out of here without singing with Blaine again."

Blaine's face felt impossibly hotter and he instantly started protesting, luckily though, Wes seemed to be on his side. God, he hadn't sung for an audience in what felt like _years. _Of course, the last time had been at Kurt's parent's wedding, but he hadn't been a _soloist_ in ages. He wasn't sure he still had his ability to jump into a song unrehearsed and unchoreographed. "David, I really don't think I have it in my anymore,"

That statement apparently got Wes to start agreeing with David instead of Blaine, and he turned to him sharply. "Blaine Anderson," he said in his stern voice, "You cannot expect us to believe you've changed that much in the short amount of time we've been apart."

Blaine rolled his eyes, his face still red, and David said, "C'mon Blaine, for old time's sake."

Blaine looked to Kurt for backup but of course Kurt was more than excited to hear him perform. "Please?" he asked, "I can be your audience."

The three boys stared at Blaine for a few seconds before he groaned and conceded, "Fine," he mumbled, receiving celebration. "But only _one _song, alright?"

David nodded and Wes called over the other Warblers. Kurt sat down in one of the auditorium seats and Blaine noticed some of the New Directions sitting too. Jeff, Nick, and Trent all came over and hugged Blaine as Wes told them the song they were doing. And Blaine started to get a little excited. He hadn't performed it in a while, but he still remembered it well, it was one of his favorite numbers.

"Seriously, Blaine, no pressure." David said as everyone found their starting pitches. "We're just having fun, this isn't an audition," he said with a wink.

Wes counted them off, giving Blaine no introduction to the other Warblers, even though some of them were faces Blaine didn't recognize, and they got started. Blaine took a deep breath as the boys got started, begging his heart to slow down. He knew what he was doing, he'd done it a million time before, and they were just having fun. There wasn't even _really _an audience to impress.

Blaine listened for his cue and came in strongly, taking a step and starting the rhythmic movements he always toyed with during this song and taking the lead.

**At first we started out real cool.**

**?!**

The New Directions stared in shock at the stage. None of them said a word until after the Warblers said their final goodbyes to Blaine and left the stage to head back to Westerville.

"We have a problem." Rachel said aloud, her voice not as steady as usual as she addressed her fellow glee club members.

She all but sprinted out of the auditorium, and Kurt followed her lead as the glee club left the auditorium quickly. Kurt caught Blaine's eye, now standing alone on the stage as everyone stormed off. He held up a finger to him to indicate that he'd be back and left with the New Directions.

As soon as everyone was back in the green room, Rachel started yammering. "We have to step up our game for regionals-"

Everyone started piping up with their suggestions, and only once Rachel seemed on the verge of tears did Puck interrupt loudly. "Would everyone calm down?"

Rachel turned to him swiftly, "Absolutely not, we have _so _much work to do before regionals!"

Puck shrugged, "How? We just tied, we're fi-"

"We are _not fine_!" Rachel shrieked before he could even get the words out. "Did you _see _what they can do?!" she demanded.

"Yeah and we _tied_-"

"I'm not talking about the competition!" she yelled. She took a deep breath, glanced around the room and continued. "I'm talking about them singing Destiny's Child."

"It was pretty impressive a white boy pulled off lead vocals on that." Mercedes agreed.

"It's more than that," Rachel insisted. "They were _dancing_. Backflips and spins and synchronized turns, _and this was impromptu._"

Mr. Schue nodded, apparently agreeing with Rachel. "I think Rachel has a point. They just showed off a completely different side of their glee club than how they competed."

"But why does it matter?" Santana asked. "They were only that good because Blaine was there."

"That's exactly _why _it matters, Santana." Rachel retorted nastily before turning to everyone else. She apparently, was still definitely upset about Santana sleeping with Finn. "If the Warblers had performed like that for the competition, maybe they would've beaten us." She said, crossing her arms over her chest. "All they needed was their frontman back."

Santana scoffed. "But Blaine goes to McKinley, we have nothing to worry about."

"But he _went _to Dalton!" Rachel insisted. "Who's to say he won't transfer back! Who's the say he's not just spying for them!"

"Enough, Rachel," Kurt said, finally speaking up. He wasn't going to let Rachel twist Blaine's friendships to treachery. "He's not a spy - he didn't even join _our_ glee club."

She didn't say anything back immediately, and after a moment, Quinn asked, "Why _didn't_ he join our glee club?" The group turned to her. "C'mon, I can't be the only one who was impressed by him," she said, receiving an eye roll from Finn. "He's really good. And they said he was their soloist."

"I think we should recruit him." Sam said. "I know Blaine, he's a nice guy, and clearly he's good enough to join."

"_Unless_ he's a _spy_ and he _wants _us to invite him to join!" Rachel exclaimed fruitlessly.

Mr. Schue stood up. "I'm with Sam. I think we should invite him to join, and give him a reason to - I really think he could be a valuable player."

"Great, so there would be even _more_ competition for solos?" Finn snapped uncharacteristically bitter.

"I'm sorry, _how _many solos have you gotten since you join?" Mercedes asked him testily.

"I mean for everyone else," Finn said lamely.

"Let's just wait for him to come to us." Santana said decisively, pulling on her jacket. "I'm putting an end to this meeting, and recommending we wait."

She left the room and Brittany followed, and slowly everyone else filtered out. Kurt was glad Santana had said something, because it was getting late, and he was starving. Quinn walked out with him, and they chatted until they found Blaine waiting in the lobby by the doors.

"Hello, Blaine," she smiled. "What brings your to our little competition?"

Blaine had a feeling the New Directions were suspecting something of him and Kurt, something that Quinn's smile was reinforcing. Blaine liked Kurt. He really did. But a boyfriend is not high on his list of essentials. He _wanted_ to be Kurt's boyfriend, but… the timing wasn't right. Besides, Kurt didn't need a boyfriend, he needed a friend. And Blaine was his friend. If something were to happen in the future…

"Blaine?" Quinn prompted. Oh crap, Blaine forgot to answer her.

"I'm really big in the arts." He said emphatically. "I'm here supporting the home team."

"Uh-huh," Quinn said disbelievingly, shooting Kurt a smile before walking out of the building with Sam. Kurt turned to Blaine.

"Let's go get some food, I'm starving." He said, hooking his arm through Blaine's elbow, walking him to the parking lot.

"Where's your bike?" He asked, unable to find it. 

"Oh, do you like the motorcycle now?" Blaine teased, wrapping his arm around Kurt's waist. "I have the van tonight." He said, leading them over to the blue minivan. "Where's the Escalade?"

"I had Finn bring me, didn't feel like driving." He explained lamely. He climbed into the passenger seat with his flowers on his lap.

"Where would you like to go?" Blaine asked, fiddling with the heating.

"Fast food, I really have a craving for fast food." He said, turning on the car stereo as Blaine pulled out of the parking lot. Blaine took them to Wendy's simply because it was closest, and once he and Kurt were seated at one of the high tables in the back, he started talking.

"You were really amazing," Kurt's cheeks turned deliciously pink as he looked up at Blaine with a smile. "I mean I knew you could sing, but I had no idea you could sing like _that_." Kurt blushed darker pink and he giggled. Blaine blushed too, because he always turned into some proud soccer mom around Kurt, and _god_ that was so not sexy. "You know what, I'm just gonna shut up."

"No, no," Kurt said, grabbing Blaine's hand across the table. "Please continue, this is great."

Blaine laughed and sipped his soda. "You know I'm not short of compliments for you, but I think, as to hold onto any dignity I currently hold, I will refrain." He said, squeezing Kurt's hand.

Kurt hummed. "I'm glad you were there," he murmured. "I think it made me less nervous."

"Really?" Blaine asked, raising his eyebrows, a hint of a smile on his face. "I made you less nervous?" Kurt shrugged, blushing. "Well I guess that means I have to attend the rest of your performances."

"Well I doubt I'll have a solo at the next competition." He rolled his eyes.

Blaine shook his head. "You should. You're talented and I'd like hearing you sing over Rachel any day."

Kurt laughed. "Not many would agree with you." Blaine just shook his head at him. "But speaking of talented, you killed that Destiny's Child song." Blaine ducked his head, cheeks red. "I'm serious, it was _so _good, it even had Rachel spooked."

Blaine just laughed and Kurt said more seriously, "How come you never joined New Directions?"

Blaine shrugged. "I don't have a ton of free time, and I was catching up with school and getting acquainted." He murmured, unable to give a strong answer.

Kurt must've sensed his disinterest in discussing it further and said, "Well, I'd love your help on a piece I'm working on in glee, if you'd like to help me out with it."

"Help you rehearse?" Blaine asked. "Do you need me to play it for you?"

Kurt nodded. "If you don't mind, it'd help a lot." 

"Sure, whenever you'd like to is fine, you know I have a piano at my house."

Kurt smiled at him. "You're the best," he said gratefully.

Blaine laughed. "Well, I can't do it for free, you should know."

"Oh?"

He nodded. "It's gonna cost you, a few kisses at least."

Kurt giggled. "I think I can work with that. But I don't know how much help I'll need, I might need to give you a date too."

"Oh, yeah? What kind of a date?"

"A nice one," Kurt assured him, playing with his hand over the table, a flirty grin on his face. "Maybe dinner at my house? With candles and dessert? I do recall telling you I can cook."

Blaine grinned. "That sounds like a fair price." He agreed, unable to stop smiling at Kurt.

Blaine took him home after they finished eating, kissing him long and hard once they were on his porch. Kurt knew his parents weren't home, so he didn't have to worry about Carole interrupting them again and he kissed Blaine fervently. Okay fine, they're more than just friends. Blaine didn't know what, he just had a friend who he loved to make out with. It wasn't that weird.

Kurt pulled back. "Can I ask you something?" he asked softly.

"Mhmm," Blaine hummed, pressing a kiss on Kurt's neck, and even though it was brief, Kurt gasped and wasn't momentarily able to speak. Blaine eyed him for a second before kissing the same spot once more, letting his lips linger just a second longer, getting another huffy little whine from Kurt. "Is this a _thing_ for you?"

"I guess so," Kurt breathed. Blaine smiled into his neck and Kurt tilted his head up to give Blaine a larger expanse to kiss.

"What did you need to ask?" he breathed against his skin.

Kurt didn't seem like he could breath. "Oh, right," he mumbled. "I was just wondering-" his breath hitched when Blaine sucked lightly. "What, um – what's going on here?"

Blaine pulled back and looked at Kurt curiously. "You mean between us?"

Kurt nodded. "Yeah, what exactly is… us?" he asked.

Blaine looked at him for a moment, brushing Kurt's loose hair behind his ear. "I don't know." He said honestly. "But I don't think I'm ready yet for anything super… Official."

Kurt bit his lip. "Me either," he looked up at Blaine. "I want to keep making out with you though." 

Blaine smiled. "I can work with that," he murmured, kissing him once more, letting his lips linger on Kurt's before he pulled back. "Just not tonight. I should get home," he murmured.

Kurt nodded. "Drive safe. Text me when you get there so I know you got home okay."

Blaine was pretty sure he blushed, but he didn't care. He kissed Kurt's cheek and stepped off the porch and back to his aunt's minivan. Yeah, it had been a good day. He saw his old friends, he sang for the first time in a while, he made the boy he was crazy for happy, he got a lot of kisses, he had dinner with said boy, and even those last few moments were lovely, sort of deciding where they stood. It was starting to seem like every day Kurt was in was a good day.

**?!**

Blaine strode confidently up to Kurt, and even though he was going against the lunch rush, it seemed like everyone parted like the red sea for him. He rested his palm on the locker near Kurt's head, and grinned broadly. Kurt peeked over at him and rolled his eyes, knowing Blaine was planning something.

"There's a party tonight, after the game, and you're coming with me." Blaine said surely.

"And why would I do that?" Kurt asked testily.

"Because you're my date."

"Is that supposed to convince me?"

Blaine just laughed. "You're cute when you insult me." Kurt tried to keep his cheeks from warming up. "Seriously, you should come with me. It'll be fun, and parties are something you have to experience at least one in your high school career." He said as the warning bell rang, the halls narrowing considerably.

"I don't know, I'm not exactly a party-goer," he murmured, closing his locker, "There's a lot of people in attendance who enjoying making my life hell, so I think I'll pass."

"Oh, don't worry about them," he said. "I'll protect you."

"My hero," Kurt quipped condescendingly as he turned away from Blaine to go to his French class.

Blaine followed him. "Kurt," he whined. "It won't be bad, I swear. And if it is, we can bail, okay? We can go make out in the back of a movie theater or something."

"You're so romantic," Kurt sighed. "I don't know, Blaine. I was planning on a night in, with homework and Grey's Anatomy."

Blaine stopped him from walking, grabbing his arm and leading him to stand against the wall of lockers. "You can do that whenever you want. How often are you given the opportunity to go to an after party with a chaperone?"

Kurt smirked but didn't say anything and Blaine stepped closer to him. On instinct he tried to back up, but he was already pressed against the lockers. Blaine kept their faces only inches away. His mouth went dry and he licked his lips. Blaine's eyes flicked down to his tongue but they were back up at his eyes just as quickly. He checked to make sure the hallway was empty before he slowly leaned in and took his lips in a kiss, tugging on his lips seductively, sucking on Kurt's tongue and gripping his waist.

Kurt was very, very surprised, and he realized in the back of his mind he should've cared that they were in school, and they never kissed in school, but he couldn't pretend to care, because Blaine had never kissed him like that before. Blaine swallowed his moan and Kurt felt his dick stirring in his jeans and he squirmed.

Blaine pulled back, but Kurt chased his lips, because that was one hell of a kiss, and Blaine tasted like coffee even more than usual that day. Blaine fully pulled back and Kurt had to catch up with his breathing.

"So are we in agreement about tonight?"

"This is coercive." Kurt informed him breathlessly.

Blaine smirked. "No," he murmured. "I'm being persuasive."

Kurt rolled his eyes but was smiling. "You're making me late for class." He said just after the final bell finished going off.

"May I pick you up at seven?"

Kurt looked at Blaine fondly. If nothing else, he cared that Kurt was enjoying himself. "You may."

Blaine grinned triumphantly. "I'll see you at lunch," he said before darting his eyes back down to Kurt's kissed lips lustfully. Maybe Kurt was horny or something, maybe it was just because of how good that last kiss was, he leaned forward and pressed his lips to Blaine's again.

Blaine eagerly nipped at his lips, sucking and kissing and biting as if he were trying to convince Kurt the party was a good idea. If he was… it was working. And sue him, the boy he's crushing on really hard has him pressed against lockers with their mouths glued together, he was allowed to like it.

It came to an abrupt stop when Sue Sylvester rounded the corner and yelled at them to get to class. Blaine gave Kurt one last lingering look, accompanied by a smirk at Coach Sue's indignation, before turning and disappearing around the corner. After they were both out of sight, Kurt let his back slide down the row of lockers. For the first time, he was sitting on the floor of the McKinley hallway, but not because someone hurt him.

**?!**

Kurt finished getting ready at six thirty, and was double checking his outfit, white skinny jeans and a red and white button up to match school colors. Finn walked into the room, still wearing his uniform top, but with jeans and converse.

"Hey man, do you-" Finn broke off mid-sentence when he saw Kurt. "No way, are you coming to the party tonight?"

Kurt nodded and Finn looked at him quizzically. "I thought you said these parties are stupid."

Kurt nodded again. "They are stupid."

Finn was probably confused, but Kurt didn't respond, partly because he didn't feel like talking to Finn, partly because he wasn't sure how to explain it.

"I'm going now to help Puck set up, do you want a ride? A few of the other glee kids will already be there too." Finn offered kindly.

"I'm all set, Finn."

Finn gave him a final smile before he said, "Okay. I guess I'll see you there, then."

He left and Kurt turned to his mirror again, tugging on a strand of his hair because it wasn't quite right. It took another ten minutes for it to be up to its usual standard, and after that, he just went downstairs to wait in the living room and listen to his dad go on and on about being safe, and not drinking, and not doing drugs, and everything else parents tell their kids before they leave the house.

Blaine's quick knock came at exactly 7 o'clock, and if his dad hadn't already been near the door, Kurt could've gotten there first.

So his dad opened the door and saw Blaine, standing with his hands in his pockets and looking up in surprise at Burt. Blaine stuck out his hand to Burt and said, "Hi, Mr. Hummel, it's nice to see you again. I'm – my name's Blaine, I'm not sure if you remember me."

Kurt walked up behind his dad, his coat already on, his bag on his shoulder. Burt shook Blaine's hand for one shake too long before he said, "Nice to see you too, Blaine. I met you at the wedding, isn't that right?"

Blaine nodded and Burt turned to Kurt, pursed his lips at him for a second and he said, "Be safe, okay, kid? Be smart."

Kurt nodded and tried to not roll his eyes. "Yes, dad,"

Burt looked back at Blaine and said, "You bring him back by midnight, okay?"

Blaine nodded and Burt stepped back for Kurt to pass him. Kurt gave him a small wave before he shut the door behind him.

"Let's take my car," Kurt said. It was a chilly night, and he'd rather not wear a helmet and mess up his hair entirely.

Blaine got into the passenger seat and kicked his feet up on the dashboard. Kurt didn't bother reprimanding him, he just started driving over to the house. When they got there, Blaine grabbed Kurt by the waist and pulled him closer to him as they walked to the front door.

Kurt leaned into him, and Brittany opened the door, Quinn close behind her. Brittany beamed at them, and Quinn's eyes widened, presumably at Blaine's arm around Kurt's waist. Kurt felt his cheeks warm up, but Blaine's just tightened his hold on him.

The girls stepped back to let them in, and the boys walked inside.

The party was fun. Well, it was for Blaine and Kurt. Blaine had a beer when they got there but that was it, he wasn't interested in getting drunk, and being with Kurt gave him a buzz enough. Kurt had a wine cooler and they stood around the edge of the dance floor drinking idly before they stepped onto the dance floor. 

It was packed, so everyone was pushed pretty close together, and it was dark enough that you could barely see who was there, so Kurt and Blaine were able to dance and be themselves without a problem. And yeah, it was really fun when someone shut the lights so the only lights were people's phones and the glow sticks people had around their wrists and necks. Kurt kissed him then, Blaine figured he was comfortable kissing him when he was 100% positive no one would see them and cause a problem.

Kurt wasn't actually bad at holding his alcohol, the only difference in him seemed to be he was just more open with PDAs, but even then, that was minimal, because they didn't want everyone around them to know how close they were. That was Blaine's thinking at least, before Kurt turned around and starting grinding against him. He let out a little bit of a grunt, taken by surprise, but also because it was kind of amazing. Kurt's ass was awesome to look at, but even better to have pressed against him.

It was a very fun night. The lights eventually came on, not as bright as before, so they were still squinting to see people apart from those right in front of them. Kurt turned around still, but he was just as close to Blaine as before, their legs tangling together and their breaths mingling.

"Do you want a drink?" he asked in Kurt's ear, almost having to yell over the pounding bass and the people shouting out of tune to the lyrics.

"Water," Kurt yelled back.

Blaine squeezed through breaks in people, brushing against more people than he wanted to, to get to the snack table against the back wall. He grabbed a bottle of water, figuring they could share it, because neither of them were going to down a whole bottle, and he was going to push back into the mix when Santana walked beside him.

He looked over at her, sipping out of a red solo cup that he grimaced at. "Really? Jungle juice? I pegged you for better."

She rolled her eyes. "I made it, I know it's good." She offered her cup to him but he shook his head. "It's gin, rum, vodka, and Kool-Aid, that's as classy as spodie gets."

He rolled his eyes. "Didn't anyone ever tell you not to drink the Kool-Aid?"

She scoffed. "Whatever, I just came over to tell you that he's off limits."

He turned to her with a puzzled look. "What?"

"Lady Hummel is off limits." she repeated. "You break him, and Finn will kick your ass."

"I'd like to see him try." Blaine muttered, his eyes falling back onto the dance floor, looking for Kurt.

Santana rolled her eyes. "Fine, double-stuffed might not be able to, but I think we both know he'll flip if anything happens."

Blaine pondered that for a moment before deciding, "I don't think I care." Santana glared at him. "Look, Kurt's the only person in the school who knows me beside my name. We're friends. I don't know why people are so insistent to believe I'm just going to hump and dump him."

Santana eyed him for a moment. "You've got a reputation, Anderson." She said finally.

Blaine huffed. He was so sick of people assuming things about him. Everyone at McKinley did, and it was driving him crazy.

"Just know you're never gonna get him to have sex with you." Santana said casually, sipping her drink.

Blaine flashed his eyes over to her. "What are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about Kurt. If you're just interested in his virgin ass to see his clothes on your bedroom floor, you're wasting your time."

Blaine rolled his eyes. "Kurt's not just a sex object to me." Blaine checked the time. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go spend time with the guy I brought tonight, because he needs to be home by midnight."

Blaine walked away from Santana and stepped into the center of the room, where the party had made a sort of makeshift dance floor. Blaine grabbed Kurt's hand as he made it over to him and spun him in a circle, sort of announcing his presence.

Kurt giggled and fell into Blaine's embrace, both of them very close due to the limited space on the dance floor.

A new, quite upbeat song started, and Kurt leaned close to Blaine, who grinned and put his hands on the small of Kurt's back. Blaine was glad he'd only had one drink, because he wanted to be sober enough to remember this the next day. As far as he knew, Kurt didn't even finish his drink from earlier.

Kurt grinned and pressed his body closer to Blaine's, eliciting a stifled moan from the other boy. He wrapped his arms around his neck, and pressed them together tightly. It was partly because they had to, due to the limited space, but mostly because with half a wine cooler in Kurt's system, loosening him up, he was feeling a lot more adventurous.

He leaned closer to and put his lips around Kurt's earlobe, and gave it a tug. Kurt shivered and pressed himself further onto Blaine, and Blaine grinned before removing his mouth from his ear.

As he tore his mouth away, he saw behind them, Santana, Finn, and Mercedes watching them. He brought his mouth back to Kurt's ear and asked, "Want to find someplace more private."

Kurt nodded and they separated if only to latch onto each other's hands and run upstairs.

The first room they got to, they quickly left because of naked people already in there. They ran down the hall to the last bedroom, and ran inside. Blaine shut and locked the door. He crossed the room and took Kurt firmly around the waist, and attached his lips to his neck. Kurt gasped at the feeling of someone sucking on his more sensitive skin, and dug his fingers into Blaine's hair.

Blaine picked Kurt up and laid him on the bed before quickly climbing on top of him. He knew, or at least was learning, how sensitive Kurt was to his neck. Kurt wasn't sure why, but every time Blaine kissed his neck, his head went fuzzy.

But then Blaine kissed up his jaw and connected their lips. Kissing Blaine was amazing, and Kurt really never expected it to be. He knew Blaine had some experience under his belt, so he imagined he'd be a good kisser, but every time their lips touched, it felt like a shock of electricity.

Kurt wrapped his legs around Blaine, and Blaine laughed against his lips. They rolled over, and once Kurt was on top, he stopped holding himself up, and allowed himself to just lie on Blaine. Blaine's hands felt around Kurt's back, gripping his shirt, and Kurt's thoughts caught up with him in a rush. Things were going away from PG fast, and he was lying to himself if he thought he was okay with it.

He leapt off of Blaine, and scrambled to tuck in his shirt, his lips moving a mile a minute. "This is crazy, I can't be doing this. I- I need to get home and-"

Blaine watched Kurt from the bed, confusion etched into every one of his features. Kurt kept panic-talking, so Blaine stood up and clamped his hand over Kurt's mouth.

"Breath." He advised softly.

Kurt took a short breath before running his hand through his hair. "I'm sorry, I have to go, I can't do this - I'm not ready to do this -"

"Kurt-" Blaine said tiredly. He sat back down on the bed.

"And I want to but I can't, I know I'm not ready, I'm not-"

"Kurt-"

"And I know how much trouble you've gone through just to be friends and I appreciate it, and I wish I could, but -"

"_Kurt_!" Blaine yelled, finally shutting him up. "Would you relax?"

He patted the space beside him, and Kurt slowly walked over and sat down so he was barely touching the bed at all.

"It's okay," was all Blaine said.

Kurt's tense shoulders deflated, the worry lines etched into his forehead were erased, his frown turned into an expression of puzzlement.

"It's okay." Blaine repeated. "I don't mind you not being ready to do sexual things." He said simply. "I don't really see why you think it's such a big deal."

Kurt gaped at him. "But - but - but before, all the jokes about sex and - and -"

Blaine laughed. "Oh, that." He grinned at Kurt. "I just like seeing you blush."

And right on cue, Kurt's cheeks went pink. Blaine's grin grew wider. "I didn't expect you to be ready for a lot. I'm not upset, or disappointed, I'm actually kind of psyched I was right." His grin faltered for a moment. "You didn't really think that's all I'm spending time with you for, did you?"

"I don't - I don't know, I don't know you." Kurt stumbled through his words, not meeting Blaine's eyes. "I mean, kind of, but not - not really."

"We know each other," Blaine argued meekly.

"I don't even know…" Kurt picked his brain for the easiest thing to know about a person, "your favorite color."

"Maroon," Blaine answered immediately.

Kurt let out a small laugh. "Okay, but the point is I still don't know a lot about you."

"But you know more than most, so that's gotta count for something." Blaine retorted before standing up. "Now, c'mon, it's already 11:30, and I promised your dad midnight." 

"Blaine," Kurt started. "I think I need to - to take a step back from the kissing and stuff." He admitted, feeling incredibly embarrassed.

Blaine just took his hand. "No problem, Kurt." He said sincerely, pulling him off the bed. Blaine gave Kurt a second to adjust his shirt, pulling him composure. Kurt could feel Blaine's eyes on him and he closed his eyes, evening his breathing. Then, Blaine wrapped his arms around Kurt, holding him close. It was extremely… comforting. Kurt felt _safe_, wrapped up in Blaine's arms. He hugged him back, and felt his heartbeat steady and he didn't feel scared anymore.

Blaine held onto him for minute longer before slowly letting go of him, staring into his eyes, and instead grabbing hold of his hand. Blaine navigated them back downstairs through the crowds of people, ignoring the looks they were probably receiving.

They got to Kurt's car, and Blaine drove them back to his house. He tried once or twice to start a conversation but Kurt was barely responsive.

"Tomorrow," Blaine said once they were out of the car and on Kurt's porch, just outside the door. "Come over. At noonish, it's time for us to get to know one another."

Kurt looked at his feet and nodded.

"Kurt?" Blaine spoke softly.

Kurt slowly looked up at him and saw Blaine's hands stuffed in his pockets like he was nervous.

"No, no," he said, "I'll be there. Noon."

Blaine let out a slightly huffed breath. "Kurt," he said again. Kurt realized he probably wasn't the most concerned about him coming over. Two creases formed between Blaine's eyebrows. "Are you mad at me?" He asked, his voice pitifully quiet.

Kurt's arm snapped out instinctively to grab Blaine's arm. "No." He said quickly. "No, I'm not mad at you."

Blaine shuffled his feet. "Kinda seemed like it. You haven't really talked to me since we left the party."

Kurt shook his head. "No," he repeated. "I'm not mad at you, I'm just flustered."

"Are you sure?" Blaine asked importantly. 

"Definitely," Kurt said. God, Blaine had cute lips. "And I think we need to slow down with the physical stuff, but I really want to kiss you right now."

"Feel free."

Kurt held onto the back of Blaine's neck and kissed him firmly on the lips. Blaine relaxed a few kisses in, and held onto Kurt's waist with both of his hands.

And of course, because they had to worst luck in the world, the front door opened. Kurt didn't stopped kissing Blaine as quickly as he did last time, because Carole really needed to learn to just not open the door when she thought Kurt was home, and turned to the door and _oh god that's not Carole.  
_  
"Dad! Hi." Kurt said, his cheeks flushing. Burt stood in the doorway, watching him with his lips pursed. He looked over at Blaine and was analyzing him more closely than he did before they left.

"It's Blaine, right?" He inquired.

Blaine nodded and Burt peered into the driveway here he saw Blaine's bike sitting. "You ride?"

Blaine followed his gaze and hastily said, "Yeah, yeah I do."

Burt squinted at the bike. "That a Harley?"

"King classic."

"What year is it?"

"'98."

Kurt watched in befuddlement at his father engaged Blaine in a fully fledged conversation about his motorcycle, and the gas mileage, and _that bike's good for people, I've worked on a couple, and come down to the shop anytime you need, I can fix her up, Kurt probably could too._

Kurt's eyes flickered between Blaine and his dad, trying to decide whether he should just leave them alone, when his dad asked, "So how do your folks feel about you riding a motorcycle?"

Blaine hesitated for barely a second. "They're not really around."

His dad (thankfully) took the hint and didn't press the topic, but Kurt stared at Blaine with puzzlement on his face. But of course they were talking about football.

"Oh yeah," Blaine said. "I'm a huge Buckeyes fan."

"I didn't know," Burt said. "You should come over tomorrow and watch the game with us. I'd love to hear your thoughts on this year's lineup."

Kurt felt like he'd slipped into some alternate universe where his dad was okay with Kurt riding motorcycles, and he didn't comment on walking in on his son kissing people on the porch, and he was okay with teenage parties, and he invited strange boys to watch football.

"That'd be great, I'd love to." Blaine responded, sounding confused, but not nearly as confused as Kurt.

Burt nodded and said, "Well, thanks for bringing him home on time, I appreciate it. Kurt?" He turned toward the house and stepped into the door.

Kurt turned to Blaine with confusion etched all over his face. Blaine just pecked his lips and said, "I'll text you," before walking back over to his bike.

Kurt walked into the house and closed the door behind him and looked at the time on the stove; Quarter of midnight. He stepped into the living room where his dad had just sat down.

His dad sipped his beer and said, "Sit," gesturing to the couch beside his recliner.

Kurt robotically sat down and his dad muted the TV before looking at him. He wasn't sure if it was the muting of the TV that did it, but he felt extraordinarily nervous.

"So," Burt started. "I feel like you didn't tell me very much about that Blaine of yours."

Kurt blushed. Blaine wasn't _his_. He flicked his eyes up at his dad who shrugged. "I guess you didn't show how close you guys are."

Kurt bit the inside of his cheek. "Well, we're - we're pretty close."

Burt snorted. "I can tell, kid. It's not usually you I find making out on the porch."

Kurt blushed again and didn't respond. "So how many times have you been on his motorcycle?"

"I - I don't know, a few." He stuttered, because god, his dad's questions just kept throwing him for a loop.

Burt took another swig from his bottle. "You can probably guess I'm not overly pleased about that." Kurt didn't make any indication he even heard him. "But at least he knows what he's doing."

Kurt just nodded slowly, looking at the silent football game on TV. "I'm not gonna start hounding you about where you go with him, or what you're doing, or anything," Burt started, "I just need to know that he's good to you."

Kurt looked up at his dad and saw him wearing a soft expression. Going into this conversation, Kurt had no clue what to expect. He didn't know if he should've envisioned a man-to-man type thing, or punishment for something, but this conversation was exactly the type of thing he should've expected, because he kind of had the best dad in the world.

"Yeah," Kurt responded softly. "He's really good to me." 


	6. I Kinda Wanna Be More than Friends

Kurt rung the doorbell and took a small step back as he waited. He heard someone inside and quickly the door was opened.

Blaine was wearing a light gray Henley, pushed up to his elbows and black sweatpants that read, _Westerville Prep Fencing_ down the leg. He grinned at Kurt, his big, dopey smile Kurt had never seen him wear when other people were around.

"You came." He sounded like he didn't expect Kurt to show up, and Kurt just couldn't take how cute he looked with his collar falling too low, and the undeniable excitement in his voice, and his bedhead, Kurt just leaned on his toes and kissed him on the lips without thinking about it.

Blaine smiled into his kiss. "Hello to you, too," He greeted him playfully once Kurt pulled back.

Blaine stepped further into the house and gestured for Kurt to enter. Kurt took off his boots and walked into the semi-familiar house, and noticed how quiet it was.

"Are we alone?"

"Yup. Mary just took the kids to a birthday party, she won't be back until later, and John's working." Blaine shut the door behind Kurt and gave him a dazzling smile. "So we're going to be alone for a while." Kurt bit his lip and smiled nervously. He was alone in a house with Blaine… oh, the implications.

"C'mon," Blaine grabbed Kurt's hand. "There's a super comfortable couch in the living room we should get familiar with."

Blaine linked their fingers together and led Kurt onto a massive brown couch, sandwiched between a matching loveseat and a side table. They laid down together with their heads on the armrest, and Blaine pulled a blanket over them to make it impossibly more comfy. Once they got situated on the couch, Blaine flicked on some soft music, Kurt wondered if what the glee club was saying about Blaine was true, all the asinine rumors. Sometimes it seemed like they could be, but at times like these, lying together in a house that smelt of vanilla, squished together under a blanket and listening to old jazz music with Blaine humming along under his breath, it didn't seem as likely.

Blaine slung his arm around Kurt's shoulders and pulled him closer. Kurt leaned into him, resting his head on Blaine's shoulder. He couldn't stop wondering about all those stories from earlier. Were they true? Was Blaine as terrifying as people made him out to be? He didn't seem like it when they were together, but how he was when they weren't together, he had no idea.

"What's on your mind?" Blaine asked softly, nudging Kurt's head with his nose.

Kurt deliberated asking for a moment, not wanting to upset Blaine. "If I ask you something, can you promise not to be mad?"

"Whatever you say, Kurt." Blaine said dismissively.

Kurt took a deep breath. How to word it, which question was the most pressing… "Okay, is it true you carry a knife with you?"

Blaine snorted. "Do people really think I carry a knife with me?" Kurt opened his mouth to answer but Blaine continued. "More importantly, do _you _think I carry a knife with me?"

Kurt's cheeks felt warm and he just sort of shrugged. Blaine bent his face nearer Kurt's. "Do you think I carry a knife with me?"

"I don't know, I barely know you." Kurt said evasively.

"Barely know me, hmm," Blaine said in an amused voice. "So you were totally going to bang a stranger last night?"

Kurt blushed to his roots. "I was not going to sleep with you at that party."

"Uh huh," Blaine said cockily. "I'm sure the thought never crossed your mind." Blaine pressed a kiss onto Kurt's cheek with a patronizingly loud 'mwah'.

Kurt turned his head away from Blaine mumbling, "You're an ass."

"Well you still keep me around, so I must be doing something right."

"I think I'm just doing something wrong." Kurt muttered snarkily.

"Or something very right," Blaine murmured in his ear.

"No, I think I'm doing something wrong." Blaine just laughed. It was quiet for a while, but a nice quiet.

"No, I don't carry a knife with me." Blaine said finally. Kurt nodded slightly. Okay. Good.

"I never really believed that one." Kurt murmured.

"Any other questions?" Blaine asked lightly.

"Hmm?"

"Anything else the students of McKinley high have concocted you're curious about?"

Kurt debated that. It was the perfect opportunity to debunk some rumors, but he didn't want Blaine to think his opinion of him was swayed at all because he was naïve enough to believe those rumors.

"Fine. How about we just learn a little bit about each other and you can slip in questions here and there." Blaine suggested.

Okay, that was easy. "What's your middle name?"

"Devon." Blaine answered. Kurt lifted his head off of Blaine's shoulder and looked at him.

"Blaine Devon Anderson." He said. Kurt grew a smug, little smile, "That's very cute."

Kurt's eyes widened when he saw a faint blush appear on Blaine's cheeks. "What's yours?"

"Kurt Elizabeth Hummel."

Blaine looked up at him in surprise. "Elizabeth?" Kurt nodded once. "After your mother?" Blaine guessed, not really needing any confirmation.

Blaine turned onto his side towards Kurt to lay down. He took Kurt's hand and tugged on it. Kurt copied Blaine's position, his head falling slightly forward so their noses touched.

"Hi." Blaine said softly.

Everything was so different. Before, when they were together, it was Blaine flirting, or being obnoxious, or annoying. He was so much different now. Not every joke he made was at Kurt's expense, he didn't make suggestive comments or moves, quite contented with just holding his hand. What changed? Why were they so different? Kurt knew he should care more, and try to get to the bottom of it, but it had been a nice day, and Blaine was being _so_ sweet, and they were enjoying being together, he wasn't going to try and change anything.

"Hi," he returned with a smile.

They didn't say anything for a while. They just watched each other, making frequent eye contact, learning each other's faces. At one point Blaine angled his head slightly more forward so he could press their foreheads together.

Blaine let out a loud yawn, scrunching up his face and letting it out. Kurt giggled at him, and once he closed his mouth, Blaine pouted at Kurt for half a second before he puckered his lips. He pressed a light kiss onto Blaine's lips.

"So tell me about you." Blaine said. "Who are you, Kurt Hummel?"

"Well, I'm a junior in glee club, my dad's a mechanic-"

"No," Blaine interrupted. "I already know all that. Tell me what makes you, _you_, more than some junior in a glee club with a mechanic dad." He explained.

Kurt pondered that for a moment before he said, "All right. What kinds of things do you want to know?"

"Everything," Blaine said, his eyes excited. "The good, the bad, the ugly,"

"Well it's me, so there is no ugly," Kurt commented snidely.

Blaine laughed. "Okay, so you're cocky. Good to know."

Kurt smiled and wedged his leg between both of Blaine's to get more comfortable. Blaine smirked and said, "Suggestive too. Would you consider yourself a very forward person."

Kurt blushed and said, "I'm forward about most things. But not things I'm uncomfortable with."

"Like what?" Blaine asked. "What makes you the most uncomfortable? Is it me?" Kurt laughed aloud. "Is it public speaking?" Kurt shook his head no. "Is it sex?"

Kurt gave no visible response and Blaine's mouth fell open. "It's sex? Are you asexual? Are you secretly a girl? Are you transgender?"

Kurt rolled his eyes at Blaine's ridiculousness. "Obviously not." He retorted. "And I'm just uncomfortable… talking about it."

Blaine smiled. "Oh, well I figured out that one all on my own." Kurt raised his eyebrows at him. "You blush every time you say the word sex."

"Shut up," Kurt said as Blaine laughed. "I've just never been comfortable with it; I – I have about as much sexual appeal and knowledge as a – a baby penguin!"

Kurt felt his cheeks warm up and he ducked his chin to try and hide his face, but it just made Blaine laugh more. Blaine brushed his fingers through Kurt's hair, and Kurt didn't protest. He couldn't remember the last time someone touched his hair and he didn't throw a fit.

Kurt licked his lips. "Have you ever…?"

Blaine looked at him curiously. "Have I ever had sex?" he asked.

Kurt's face was red. He wanted to know, because well, okay he _liked _Blaine. He one of his closest friends, and maybe Kurt was starting to like him. More. Not that he necessarily wanted to have sex with Blaine, but it would be good to know in case he ever _did_ have sex with Blaine. If he did, he would want to know. And not that he had any right, but if someone else _had _been… _intimate_ with Blaine, he would be jealous.

Blaine must've taken his silence as his confirmation and he pressed a kiss onto Kurt's forehead. "I'm a virgin," he murmured.

Kurt felt almost relieved. "You don't seem surprised," Blaine commented softly. Kurt just shrugged. "You don't seem upset about it either."

"I don't know, Blaine," Kurt sighed. "Sometimes it just seems like you're leaps and bounds ahead of me… sexually."

"Well, baby penguin," Blaine started, holding Kurt tighter. "I think it's safe to say I have more experience." Even though that wasn't mean or untrue, it still kind of made Kurt feel crappy. "And that's totally fine. I'm not saying that it's good or bad, or even that it matters. But I'm never going to lie to you. Promise." he said, kissing Kurt's knuckles. "I've definitely… _experimented_, but I've never gone all the way, no."

Kurt nodded. He was slightly relieved, because he felt like if he'd asked Blaine his experience, and he'd had multiple partners or even had sex at all, Kurt would feel like there were going to be expectations he couldn't meet. As in, goodbye making out with Blaine. But that wasn't the case, and he was more than ready to learn about _different_ parts of Blaine's life.

"Okay," Kurt said, lifting his head. "I've thought of some questions. Just to learn about you."

Blaine grinned and said, "Lay it on me."

"What was your favorite childhood movie?"

Conversation flowed freely for them. It wasn't the forced conversations Kurt tried to hold with Finn even though they weren't remotely compatible. It was even easier than conversations with Mercedes, which had a tendency to start dragging on for days once they'd finished fashion and music and boys.

"Okay, this one I heard before I really knew you; did you sell your kidney on the black market?"

Blaine barked out a laugh. "Okay, now you're just quoting '10 Things I Hate About You'."

Kurt looked at him in wonderment. "You've seen that movie?"

Blaine looked almost offended. "Of course I have. Teenage Heath Ledger." Kurt rolled his eyes without any real scorn.

"Next question!" Blaine commanded cheerily.

"Is it true you should be a senior but you missed last year because you were in juvie?" Kurt asked, not thinking it'd be that bad of a question.

But then Blaine was quiet for too long. He was staring down at their hands, rubbing his calloused thumb over the smooth skin of Kurt's hand, still not answering.

Kurt's face burned in embarrassment. "You- you don't have to tell me if you don't want to." He hurried to say, flustered and just, why did he have to ask? Things were going so nicely.

"It's okay," Blaine murmured, his tone not indicating he heard Kurt's embarrassment in his voice. "I want to tell you, I- I trust you."

It was Blaine's turn to blush. He sat up, the warmth that had been radiating between them and under the blanket gone just the same as the playful mood. Kurt sat up with him and Blaine shuffled closer to him unintentionally.

"I did drop out of school last year for a few weeks, months maybe, I don't know," Blaine began slowly. "But not because I was in juvie. My um- my- my-"

Blaine continued stumbling over his words until he finally stopped when Kurt gently took his hand.

"You know I live with my aunt and uncle, right?" Blaine started again. Kurt nodded quickly. "Well, there's kind of a long story here. Not really a happy one either."

Kurt patiently waited for Blaine to continue, rubbing soothing circles into the back of his hand.

"When I was a little kid, my dad used to hit me." Kurt froze momentarily. He hurried to continue making circles once he realized he'd stopped, but not quickly enough for Blaine not to notice. "It's okay," he reassured him. "It was a long time ago."

Blaine cleared his throat before he continued, his voice slightly watery. "And- and it got better once I got older. You know, people started noticing. And eventually I was shipped off to private school for my academics, and I was able to get out. My mom- she must've known, and I know that, but I never resented her for it. She was everything to me. She raised me by herself, because my old man was too often out getting wasted, and she was the smartest person I've met, and so beautiful."

_She was his whole world_. Kurt knew it just with two sentences. Blaine didn't need to say it, it was so clear.

"But- but last year, my mom got cancer."

Kurt's heart dropped. Blaine told him this wasn't a happy story, and he knew that this was something Blaine probably never told anyone, and needed to tell someone, but he didn't want to hear it.

"My dad-" Blaine let out a bitter laugh. "He bailed the second we got the news, he even bothered filing for divorce. And my mom couldn't work, she was so sick-" Blaine's voice cracked and Kurt moved closer to him, pressing a kiss onto Blaine's shoulder. "So I got a couple jobs, dropped all my extra-curriculars to work, but it still wasn't enough. So I dropped out of school."

Blaine's eyes were shining more than usual and Kurt had absolutely no clue what to do to help him. So he just wrapped his arms around Blaine and held him tightly against his chest.

"I spent all of last year working to pay the medical expenses and regular things like bills. I sold my car to pay since my mom was staying full time at the hospital anyways. I fixed up the old bike that'd been in my garage for decades to get around to work."

Blaine paused for a moment, gliding his nose over Kurt's clavicle and breathing in his scent before he continued. "She died at the start of the summer. John and Mary are my godparents, so I moved in with them after. I haven't heard from my dad since he left."

Blaine was quiet for long enough that Kurt decided to speak. "Do you like John?" He asked, his voice shaky.

Blaine didn't answer immediately. "Some days he's okay." He said finally. "But we fight a lot, cause I'm gay, and he thinks I'm a bad influence on his kids, and he wants me to take out my piercings, and show my father respect when I talk about him."

Kurt's anger flared. How could anyone be expected to show respect to someone like _that_? Kurt had trouble appreciating his own dad, and his dad was, all in all, an amazing father. "Hope you don't mind, but I kind of want to kill your dad." He said evenly as he could.

Blaine just sort of shrugged. "Whatever. Doesn't matter."

Kurt disagreed. Blaine mattered. He mattered a lot, and he felt a pang in his chest when Blaine suggested otherwise.

"How's Mary?"

A small smile wormed its way onto Blaine's face. "Mary's lovely. She's a great mom, and she's a lot like my mom. She was her sister. Sometimes she'll try to reason with John, but for the most part he only picks a fight when she's not home."

Kurt leaned close to Blaine, pressing a soft kiss on his neck. "I'm sorry to hear that."

Blaine smirked, but the pain still showed on his face. "I already told you it doesn't matter."

Kurt pressed another kiss on Blaine's jaw line and hummed softly. "Not true." He murmured. "You matter."

Kurt moved away from Blaine when he turned to him. Blaine looked so utterly confused, Kurt wondered the last time someone reminded him he was important. Too long.

Blaine's eyes were still shining, and he was quiet for a long moment. He laid back down on the couch cushion, resting his head on Kurt's chest, his arm falling over the other boy's waist. Kurt's fingers wriggled through Blaine's tangled curls, massaging his scalp as he played with his dark hair. Blaine sighed contently and mumbled something unintelligible. Kurt's head fell back onto the couch. He thinks he knew from the beginning Blaine wasn't some crazed wild-child, and that at least some of those rumors couldn't be true. But this kind of explanation was great to have.

He glanced down at Blaine, unable to see his face, but saw how he'd instinctively curled up around Kurt. Blaine revealed a really different side of himself to Kurt. He showed him that he was able to truly love someone, that he cares about school more than he lets on, and most importantly, he allowed himself to be vulnerable in front of Kurt. He trusts Kurt.

Kurt felt something hot slide down his throat at the thought. Blaine _trusts_ him. He genuinely trusts him. The sky started to darken as Kurt's eyelids got heavy. He mumbled Blaine's name, but he didn't hear him. Maybe he was asleep. Kurt's eyelids fluttered close as thoughts of the boy holding him crept into his mind.

**?!**

Kurt didn't get home until late; probably later than his dad liked. It was nearly six when he walked in to find Carole washing dishes, and his father and Finn watching football. He quickly joined Carole at the counter before his dad could call him into the other room. He could only imagine what Finn had told Burt about Blaine.

"Hey, hon," Carole greeted him cheerfully. "You were gone for a while; you missed dinner."

Kurt nodded. "Sorry I didn't call, we fell asleep."

Carole's cheeks went pink. "That's not - that isn't code for - for anything, is it?" She stumbled through the question, unable to look at Kurt.

"No!" Kurt answered too loudly. "God, no, we fell asleep on his couch. Honestly." He wasn't sure who was more red; him or Carole.

Carole smiled at him, continuing with washing the dishes. "Are you hungry?" She asked. "There's leftover chicken in the fridge."

"That's okay," Kurt said offhandedly. "I'm going to dinner with Mercedes and Tina in a few minutes."

"Hey, Kurt, can you come here?" Burt called from the couch.

Kurt suppressed his sigh and walked into the room as slowly as he could without it seeming childish. "Hey, dad." he greeted him. "Sorry I'm late, we-"

Burt silenced him with a finger. "You were that boy- Blaine, is that right?" Kurt nodded.

Finn looked at him nervously, his apology in his eyes. Kurt just sort of shrugged at him.

"What were you doing?" Burt questioned.

"Well, we spent time in his living room, we talked for a while, and we fell asleep." Kurt explained. Carole wasn't making enough noise to convince Kurt she was still doing dishes. Finn's eyes flickered between Burt and Kurt routinely as if it were an engrossing TV show.

"I want you home on time next time." His dad said finally.

"Well, my curfew's not till ten –"

"Kurt," Burt cut him off in the most authoritative voice he could manage.

Finn was still watching the both of them, but at least Carole was actually doing the dishes again. "Fine. Like I told you yesterday, I'm going to go to dinner with Mercedes and Tina. I'll be back by eight."

His dad nodded and Kurt smiled at Finn before walking out of the room and pulling out his keys again. He checked his phone, and Mercedes sent him a message of _We're here, our table's near the back, so hurry up!_Kurt pulled into the breadsticks parking lot and walked inside quickly to find his girls waiting.

"Okay, spill." Mercedes demanded before Kurt took his coat off.

"I'm sorry?" He said, sitting across from them.

"We heard you spent the day with Blaine." Tina leaned across the table, smirking as she spoke, resting her chin on her hands.

Kurt blushed even though he had nothing to blush over. "That's true."

Mercedes and Tina shared a smirk. "What did you do together?" Mercedes asked.

"Are you going to interrogate me the whole night?" Kurt quickly asked instead.

"No, but the faster you answer, the faster we'll be done." Tina replied.

"So what did you do?" Mercedes asked nosily.

Kurt shrugged. "We spent his house, listening to jazz music and laying on his couch. We talked for a long time, and we fell asleep. I went home after."

"Oh, _'fell_ _asleep'_?" Mercedes repeated suggestively.

"No!" he huffed. "Why does everyone think that's what it means?"

"Well," Tina giggled. "You were kind of all over each other at that party." Mercedes nodded with a grin.

"So what'd you talk about?" She prompted.

Kurt started tracing the grains in the table. "I asked him about some of the rumors you guys told me about-"

"How many were true?" Tina interrupted.

"Almost none." The girls gave him looks that clearly asked for more details. "He still has his liver, he doesn't carry weapons with him, he's never been to juvie," he said listlessly.

The girls shared another look, though this one much softer. "He told you all that?" Tina asked, wonder in her voice.

Kurt nodded. "He must really like you." Mercedes pointed out. "He never tells anyone else stuff about him."

Kurt shrugged. He wasn't sure he wanted the girls to know all of what Blaine told him. He wasn't really sure why. He trusted the girls, and it wasn't a secret, he just… he just felt like somehow he'd be betraying Blaine's trust. And Blaine trusting him, though he didn't realize it before, was turning out to be important to him.

"So are you guys gonna get together again?"

"He's coming over tomorrow to watch the game." Kurt responded, rolling his eyes when the girls predictably squealed.

"Oh, hold up," Mercedes said as Tina kept giggling. "You get a boy-toy and suddenly you're watching football? Hell to the nah."

"Okay, no one said anything about boy-toys," he said quickly. "And it's not like _I'll _be watching the game. My dad just walked out when we were saying our goodbyes after the party –"

"Did he walk you to the door?" Tina interrupted with a smile. Kurt rolled his eyes and nodded.

"And he invited Blaine to watch football with us on Monday. So obviously he said yes."

Their waitress came over and set their drinks on the table, giving Kurt a minute to breath. He kind of had a feeling Finn would relay the message around that Kurt was at Blaine's house all day, which would've explained why he looked so nervous during the short time he was home. He kind of wished he hadn't though, because it would've been nice to go to dinner with his girls and have them treat him like they normally would, not like he was some shiny new model of Kurt.

Tina opened her mouth to say something but Kurt cut her off. "Can we please talk about something else? As fun as it is about being interrogated about my friend, I'd rather go on at Regionals naked."

Mercedes and Tina shared a guilty look. "Sorry," Mercedes said. "It's just – it's been a while since we've seen you this happy, and we're curious."

"It's fine, I guess, I'd just prefer you tie in a question here and there, not fire away questions nonstop and make me feel like I'm only here for your entertainment. It's dehumanizing." He grumbled, sipping his coke.

Tina grimaced. "Sorry, Kurt, we really just love seeing you happy, and we want to be part of it." She said, but she sounded unsure of it.

C'mon, Kurt, they're your friends, they just want to be a part of your life. Besides, Blaine was becoming a very large part of his life, they were right to want to know about him. He sighed and said, "No, it's fine, I'm overreacting."

Tina gave him a tentative smile and Kurt saw she and Mercedes still looked a little anxious, and took a second before so he said quickly and quietly, "But he is a great kisser."

Mercedes' jaw dropped and Tina let out a shocked laugh. "Kurt!" Mercedes exclaimed. "Oh my god, I totally knew it."

Tina splayed her hands on the table and said, "So wait, does that mean you're together?"

Kurt shook his head. "Not really. I mean, we might _get _there," he said slowly, a grin lowly taking up his face. "But not right now. Honestly, I think he just needs a friend right now."

"Yeah, a friend he's hooking up with." Mercedes said with a smirk.

Kurt blushed and said, "Hooking up is a very _suggestive _phrase."

The girls laughed again Kurt couldn't help but smile. Part of the reason he didn't want to tell them about Blaine was because he didn't think they'd react positively. He wasn't ashamed by Blaine by any means, it was just that Blaine was so new to Kurt, and newer to his friends, and he just didn't want them to not like him especially without giving him a chance. But he definitely underestimated them; now his biggest worry was Finn and Rachel. Finn, because he was his brother now, and was constantly trying to make up for how he used to treat him, and Rachel was extraordinarily _nosey_, and liked to act like she was his best friend, so they would definitely try to involve themselves more than they should.

After that initial awkwardness was gone, everything was how it used to be. They could talk about glee club, discuss the solos they hoped for, and gossip about whatever the girls were hooked on, and of course, talk about boys.

"You're lucky," Tina was saying to Mercedes, "I love Mike, but he drives me crazy. All he ever wants to do is go to Asian restaurants, and Asian-run stores, and Asian markets-" she cut herself off bitterly. "I almost miss being single. I don't know why I can't just have a normal night in with pizza and a Rachel McAdams movie."

Mercedes shook her head, "I'd take Dim Sum every Thursday night over sitting in my room _alone_." Kurt laughed and Mercedes turned to him, "What about you? Is your boo taking you out?"

Kurt grinned and said, "_Blaine_," he corrected, receiving an eye roll, "Has taken me out."

"Where'd you go?" Tina asked excitedly as she ate her food.

"To the repeat of _Love, Actually_ that the theater down the street was just playing, and we went to that Vietnamese place in west Lima." He said easily.

Tina groaned. "God, that's such a _normal_ date." She grumbled. "I wish Mike would take a leaf out of Blaine's book."

"Well, they _are _friends." Kurt mused. "I'll tell Blaine to drop a hint."

"Seriously," Mercedes said to him. "When are we getting together? I feel like I haven't seen you in _forever_."

Kurt hummed, sipping his Coke. "Well, we're scheduled for a sleepover with Rachel pretty soon."

Mercedes rolled her eyes playfully. "Yeah, because that's what I need to help relax and catch up with my boo. Rachel."

Dinner wasn't anything special, it was just Kurt catching up with his girls, but it _felt _special. Mostly because it had been so long since it had just been them, and he didn't realize it, but he'd been spending a _lot_ of time with Blaine lately. And only with Blaine. So that accounted for why a lot of what he talked about was Blaine.

"You guys should come out with us soon." He commented at one point. "We can go on a double date. Or a triple date."

Tina laughed. "That'd be fun," she agreed excitedly.

Mercedes just rolled her eyes. "Great, so instead of being a third wheel, I could be a _fifth_ wheel."

Kurt placed his hand over hers. "It'll be fun, I promise. We can go bowling or something."

She pursed her lips. "Fine," she allowed. "But it's bumper bowling."

He grinned. "Awesome, Blaine loves bumper bowling."

She scoffed. "Of course you would know that."

**?!**

When Monday came and it was just about time for the game, Kurt shut his laptop and headed downstairs. He didn't really think he had to be waiting for Blaine to get there, so he went into the kitchen and poured himself a glass of iced tea. He was already sitting on the love seat with the latest Vogue when Carole opened the door for Blaine. He gave her a grin and walked into the living room where Kurt was with his dad and Finn.

Blaine walked past Kurt entirely, first going to shake Burt's hand, apparently ignorant of the stern look Finn was giving him. Burt chuckled at Blaine but greeted him.

"Glad you could join us." He said. "First time I'll ever be able to get Kurt to watch a game."

Kurt just rolled his eyes, but couldn't contain his smile when Blaine laughed his gorgeous little laugh.

Blaine walked back over to him and kissed him on the lips before sitting down next to him. It was really just a peck, but it felt and looked so normal, so practiced, Kurt felt himself blush knowing Finn and his dad saw it. Blaine kissed him on the cheek and said quietly to him, "Hi."

"Hi," Kurt returned. "I hope you realize what you've gotten yourself into." He dropped his voice so only Blaine would hear, getting a grin from him.

All in all, it was a really weird game. Kurt didn't have much experience with watching football games, but he still thought it would've been considered weird. Carole joined them about fifteen minutes in, taking a seat between her son and Burt. The whole game, Kurt and Blaine sat on the love seat, Blaine's arm thrown casually around Kurt's shoulders and no one so much as batted an eye. Burt just talked to Blaine about the game, Carole just talked to Blaine about life, and to Kurt about school and glee club, trying to include Finn, who seemed like he was trying very hard to ignore them. Blaine would occasionally press a kiss onto Kurt's cheek or lips if they'd gone too long without saying anything to each other, no one acted like they even noticed.

So by the time the game was over and Blaine let Kurt walk him to the door, he'd been in an amazingly good mood. Blaine pulled Kurt into a tight hug and held him for a minute before he pulled back and pecked him on the lips.

"This was fun." Blaine said with a grin.

Kurt laughed. "I'm glad you enjoyed yourself." he said. "And I'm sure you're welcome whenever you're in the mood for rhapsodizing about the buckeyes."

"Always," Blaine retorted before he kissed him again, brushing his hand on Kurt's cheek, holding the back of his head.

"Oh," Kurt mumbled into his lips, pulling back. "Prepare yourself for bumper bowling with Mercedes, and maybe Tina and Mike sometime soon, alright?"

Blaine laughed under his breath. "Whatever you say, sweetheart," he muttered before pulling Kurt closer. "I'm really glad I met you." He murmured, brushing his thumb through Kurt's hair. His other hand cupped his cheek, his fingers touching his skin in a feather light way.

Kurt smiled and held Blaine's hand on his cheek. "I'm glad too," he murmured just as quietly. "You've kind of… turned my world upside down this year."

He could see Blaine swallow, and Blaine looked like he wanted to say something, but he just ducked his head. Kurt nudged Blaine's nose with his own and kissed him softly on the lips. He slowly pulled back and Blaine touched their noses together and whispered, "I um – I should probably get going."

"Okay," Kurt replied just as softly. "I'll see you in the morning."

Blaine nodded and petted Kurt's hair again before letting go of him and snagging his keys off the counter. He walked outside and was gone, Kurt shut the door but gazed out the window fondly. Good night. Much better than he expected; he was anticipating at least one minor disaster.

**?!**

Finn drove himself to school that morning cause Kurt left without him cause he was _taking too long _or whatever. He still had ten minutes before the first bell, he didn't know why Kurt was in such a hurry. It was probably better though, cause now he could just drive himself home after football instead of calling his mom or getting a ride from Puck.

He rounded the corner towards his locker and saw at the end of the hallway, Kurt. Leaning against a locker with a grin on his face, looking up at Blaine. _Blaine. _Where did that guy even come from? It was like, one day everything was normal and in order, but then _bam! _this Blaine guy comes in and makes Kurt a totally new, barely recognizable Kurt, and takes Puck from his best friend position, and becomes a bigger enemy to Karofsky than Finn is.

He jimmied open his locker, still looking at them. Blaine was making Kurt laugh about something. Not that that was bad, but Kurt was wearing this doe eyed expression, grinning too widely and laughing for too long. Ah, crap. Blaine was getting to him, wasn't he? Finn had heard more than a small amount of things about Blaine, like how he'd gone to juvie for shanking another kid, and how his motorcycle's actually stolen, and that he sold his own organs for weed money. But he didn't care all that much, let the guy be who he was, fine. But now he was bringing Kurt into the picture and it became not okay. Definitely not okay.

He shut his locker without the books he needed and went towards his first block class, watching the two down the hallway until they were out of sight. He had U.S. History first block with Mike, Puck, Sam, and Artie. It was pretty predictable that he had no idea what they were doing in that class. He took his usual seat between Puck and Sam and gestured for Artie and Mike to listen in.

"I need to talk to you guys about something," he started seriously; ignoring Puck chiming in with _he's coming out of the closet! _"It's about Blaine."

"Dude, are you actually coming out?" Puck asked. "Crush on your brother's boy?"

Finn rolled his eyes. "No, I don't like Blaine. It's sort of the opposite." The warning bell rang and a few more classmates filed in, making the room even louder. He leaned his head closer to the middle of their sort of circle so everyone could hear him. "I think we should do something about him."

"Are you talking like, beating him up?" Sam asked lowly, peeking around to make sure no one else heard.

"No, I mean just like, intimidating him." He said. The guys looked confused. "Him and Kurt have been really… close lately. And I don't like the way he looks at him. I think we should just intervene, and let Blaine know what's what."

Puck was shaking his head. "That's a terrible idea, bro."

"Wha-"

"Anderson will kick your ass if he thinks you're trying to intimidate him. Besides, Kurt's cool with him." He said, shrugging.

"I don't know, man, I've heard some seriously bad things about him."

"So? You've heard bad things about me too."

"Yeah, and they're all true." Finn retorted dryly. "I don't like them together. He's going to hurt Kurt, I know it."

Artie was starting to look convinced. "I think I have to agree with Finn. Blaine's a nice guy, but we've all heard those stories about him." He said significantly. Mike still looked unsure.

"I don't know, I'm friends with Blaine. He actually seems to like Kurt, guys. We don't even know if those stories are true." He said reasonably, looking at Puck for support. "What ever happened to the benefit of doubt?"

Finn shook his head. "If you don't want to talk to him, fine. But Kurt's my brother now, I've gotta look out for him. If you're in, meet me in the locker room at the end of the day." He said finally. Sam and Artie nodded slowly, starting to get swayed by his words, Mike looked extremely uncomfortable, Puck was just shaking his head, muttering to himself.

If Finn couldn't get all of his friends to back him up, fine. But he was doing this. They were just going to _talk_, it's not like they were going to kick the crap out of him or anything. Besides, if it'll help Kurt in the long run, Finn thinks he'll be grateful. It wasn't like Blaine was anywhere near as serious about Kurt as Kurt was about him.

**?!**

At the end of the day, Finn got to the locker room like he would've for football, practice was cancelled cause of the thunderstorm. Blaine was in the back where he always was, finishing up with a punching bag, and one of the only other people in there. Finn almost went up to him by himself, but just before he did, Sam walked in, followed by Mike, pushing Artie's wheelchair.

"Puck?"

Sam shook his head. "Not coming."

Finn sighed and said, "Whatever. It's go time." he took the lead and walked over to Blaine, who looked up before they were quite over, looking at Finn in puzzlement.

"Dude, we need to talk to you." Finn said seriously to Blaine, who was sitting on a bench in the boy's locker room, taking off his boxing tape from his fourth block gym class.

Blaine raised his eyebrows at Finn and saw him flanked by some of the New Directions guys. "Sure, what's up?"

"You need to lay off Kurt," Finn said firmly. Blaine looked around at all of them, his glance lingering on Mike. Mike was his friend, and he certainly didn't look as stony and pissed as the other guys, he was still with them. He looked at Blaine with a trace of guilt. Blaine rolled his eyes and turned back to Finn.

"I'm going to go out on a limb here and say Kurt didn't ask you to do this?" he asked sardonically.

Finn looked a little embarrassed but plowed on. "No, but he needs us to look out for him. He doesn't know-"

"Doesn't know what?" Blaine interrupted. "That I'm really just a big bad boy who's going to hurt him? Because last time I checked, he's the only person at this school who's bothered to get to know me."

Sam stepped forward slightly, reaching his hand out as if to brace for Blaine charging at him. "Look Blaine, we don't have a problem with you, really. But we have to look out for him." he said, trying to sound reasonable.

Blaine squinted at him and cocked his head slightly to the side. "I'm sure your intentions are just great, but Kurt's a big boy now. He can take care of himself."

Artie wheeled closer to him. "Just lay off Kurt, okay? He doesn't need someone like you messing with him."

Blaine stood out of his chair, not able to stand how disadvantaged his position was at that moment. "Someone like me?" he repeated incredulously.

Artie looked slightly abashed, but still tried defending himself. "C'mon man, you wear that crappy jacket all the time, you ride a skateboard everywhere, and you have earrings. You're like Puck, and we know what guys like you are looking for."

Blaine looked around to see if Puck was there, but he wasn't. He wondered if he'd faced something similar when he dated Quinn last year. If he had, Blaine thinks he would've warned him, given that this felt like he was standing defenseless in front of the fucking fire squad.

"Well thank you for the stereotype, _Artie_," Blaine said sarcastically. "Now, if we're done here-"

"Look, we tried being nice, but dude we're not asking you anymore. Back off." Finn said, his voice rising in frustration, his face turning red. "We all know the only thing you want from him."

"You know _nothing_ about our relationship." Blaine said cuttingly. He glared at Finn through narrowed eyes, almost daring him to say something. He was so _beyond _sick of assholes coming in and assuming they knew him; that they knew anything about him.

Finn accepted the dare. "Oh yeah?" he challenged. "Because we know that Kurt might actually like you and you obviously don't even care about him."

Blaine's blood was boiling, he could feel himself going red with anger, his hands were shaking with rage. "I don't care about him?" he asked sharply, doing his best to refrain from yelling.

"No you don't; you don't care about anything! You don't care about school, or anything. Why would you care about Kurt? Have you ever cared about anything?"

Blaine threw his bag on the bench in front of him aside and stepped his foot up on it, bending his face so close to Finn's their noses almost touched. "Let me paint you a picture." He nearly growled, his voice deadly.

"Have you ever been with someone who has leukemia? It's long, and painful, and not pretty. That was all of last year for me. My mom was diagnosed with stage four at the beginning of last year. My dad bailed as soon as we got the news, and I didn't care. He didn't give two shits about me or my mom. And mom was so sick, I didn't have the time to care." His eyes stayed resolutely trained on Finn's, he could almost feel the guys shrinking back. It was just something about cancer, he guessed.

"I thought, if I listened to the doctor, and did everything he told me to, she'd get better. So I dropped out of school and got a job. Hell, I got three. Do you think I wanted to? Fuck no. I had perfect grades, I participated in everything, I _liked_ school. But I did it because to pay for treatment since my mom couldn't."

Blaine moved his head away from Finn and looked around from everyone else, all of them looking nervous, uncomfortable. "And _maybe_, I wear this piece of shit jacket, because it's the only thing I have left of my piece of shit dad. And _maybe_, I have my ears pierced so I don't ever lose my mom's favorite piece of jewelry in the world. _Maybe_ I don't care about your stupid, high school _shit_anymore, because there comes a point when you physically can't care anymore, because everything about it hurts too much." His voice was sharp and cutting, he could see them practically flinching every time he swore or enunciated to adequately communicate his vexation.

The guys stared in with their eyes wide, none of them moving at all. Blaine rolled his eyes. "You know, when I got here, everyone told me to avoid you guys, and your fucking glee club, like the plague. That you were the biggest bunch of losers in the world, but you accepted everyone. Not the case, huh. But you know what? I'm done. I don't think I need to take any more of this crap, and I don't think I need to spend any more time with you walking dildos."

Blaine snatched up his bag roughly, gripping it so tight his knuckles were going white. He made his way to the door, stopping in the doorway before turning around and saying, "You guys think you're so much better than everyone because you're better people… Well, I hate to break it to you; you are just as shitty people as everyone else in this hellhole of a school."


	7. I'm Always Gonna Wanna Blow Your Mind

The next couple days weren't fun for anyone. The guys in glee club had to explain why Blaine hadn't been seen around the school or half of their classes with any explanation whatsoever, Kurt was miserable, and Finn felt awful. It was sort of his fault.

He didn't tell them exactly what they were talking to Blaine about, because he wasn't sure he was ready for him and Kurt to have that conversation, but everyone got the gist of things; they treated Blaine like an ass, so he acted like an ass.

It really sucked seeing Kurt though. He looked concerned all through glee club the afternoon after the incident, since Blaine clearly wasn't responding to his texts, as he kept checking his phone. Then to make Finn's week worse, there were the stupid Christmas decorations all over the school whose joy just seemed ironic, plus Rachel, still on his case to get back together.

It was worse the next morning; Finn was at his locker, swapping some books out when he saw Kurt walk by. He watched him walk over to Blaine, who was looking very unhappy, taking textbooks out of his locker. Finn was a little ways down from them, so he couldn't hear the conversation, but Blaine didn't make eye contact the whole time, and left quickly, without even looking back at Kurt. Finn had to look away as Kurt started back down the hallway, but in the brief second he saw him, he could see the hurt on his face.

Even though Blaine seemed equally as miserable as Kurt, and he probably hated Finn and the rest of the glee guys, he was actually backing off. Finn was definitely surprised, but it was actually making him feel worse. Because, what if it meant he actually did care about Kurt? And maybe he thought Kurt _did_ want the guys to talk to him?

He knew he had to at least try and fix things, though there were a few problems. Kurt didn't know why Blaine was ignoring him, and would be pissed when he found out why he was, the only time Finn really saw Blaine was after school getting ready for football, as he beat the crap out of a punching bag. Call him crazy for not wanting to talk to him then.

But when Friday came, and Kurt and Blaine still hadn't talked to each other, he decided it was time to do something. It had been three days since the incident, in which time he felt like a terrible person, Kurt was miserable, Blaine was miserable, and Finn realized maybe they played a bigger part in each other's lives than he thought.

He told coach Bieste he was going to be a little late, and when he told her the short version of what happened, she agreed to give him five minutes. So he got dressed with the rest of the team, but hung back until only he and Blaine were in the locker room.

He hesitantly walked over to Blaine, and stopped a yard or so away and waited for a moment. Blaine had to have known he was there, but he didn't say anything, or acknowledge him.

"Can we talk?" Finn asked finally, feeling his minutes ticking away.

Blaine didn't do or say anything for a moment before he eventually turned away from the bag. "What?" he snapped.

Finn blanked. He had thought out all these things to say about it, but now that he was faced with Blaine and his fierce gold eyes glaring up at him, he forgot all of it.

Blaine rolled his eyes and went back to the bag. "What do you want?" Blaine asked impatiently.

"I wanted to apologize." Finn said. Blaine gave his bag one final blow before turning back to Finn with his arms crossed over his chest, and a total bitch-face. "We shouldn't' have intervened the other day, it wasn't our place and we're all sorry."

Blaine uncrossed his arms and started taking off his boxing gloves. "So what is it that made you apologize? Was it Kurt? Or Rachel, or maybe –"

"Me," Finn interrupted. "I'm apologizing because of me. Well, actually because of you." Blaine looked at Finn with a cocked eyebrow. "I saw you and Kurt the other morning. And I've seen you both around a bit."

Blaine rolled his eyes. "No frigging way," he said sarcastically. "It's almost as if we go to the same school."

Finn took a deep breath and continued. "I shouldn't've said all that stuff the other day. None of us should have. You were right about some things: Kurt doesn't need protecting, we didn't know anything about you guys' relationship, and we were wrong to assume anything just because of how you dress."

Blaine gripped his hair in a tight fist and scrunched up his face before he exploded. "What is the matter with you?!" he yelled, looking Finn straight in the eye. "Why would you ever involve yourself in someone else's love life?!"

Finn shrugged, shuffling his feet. "It's kind of just what we do in glee club-"

"It's ridiculous!" he interrupted. "_You're _ridiculous." His entire forehead wrinkled in distress. "Finn, I'm friggin' _crazy_ about your brother, and you just messed everything up-!"

Finn glanced down at his feet anxiously. Yeah… he really stepped in it. He could only imagine how being bitched out by Kurt's gonna be…

"Are you even listening?!" Finn's head snapped up when that key phrase hit his ears. "Jesus Christ, you want to apologize and you're not even fucking _listening_." Blaine shook his head incredulously, his eyebrows really pointy and dangerously high on his forehead.

"Sorry, sorry," Finn stammered. "Keep yelling, I'm listening."

Blaine collapsed on the bench behind him, rubbing his hands tiredly over his face. He took a deep breath and unwrapped the tape on his knuckles. "Look, Finn," he sighed, "I don't know what you want. You involved yourself in something entirely not your business, and you come in to apologize but you don't even listen to my response-" he broke off in frustration, rubbing his face again.

Finn rocked on his heels. "I'm sorry, dude, and I'll be honest, I don't know what you want from me." He said plainly. "If you want to kick my ass, or just shame me or something, it's really hard to pick up a vibe off of you."

Blaine rubbed his temples in aggravation before flicking his eyes up at Finn again. "What I need, is for you to never get involved in my life again. Never, ever again."

"I can't." god, Finn did _not _want to say that, more than he didn't want to talk to Kurt, he did not want to refuse Blaine something when it looked like steam could be blowing out his ears. "I can't just not do anything man, even after today, I'm gonna have to get in your face at least once in awhile. Kurt's my brother now, and man, he really digs you." Blaine's eyes softened and Finn felt slightly more encouraged to continue. "You're in his life now, you gotta be in mine."

Blaine looked at him for a long moment before he sighed and ran his fingers through his hair again. "Finn, I'll be honest," he started. "You suck. Seriously, you make me want to shove my entire hand into a food processor. You acted like one of the biggest tools on the _planet_-" he sort of deserved that, but Blaine still took a really, really long time to keep going. "But you're not a _bad guy_. I know bad guys, and you're not one of them. You just suck."

"So you don't hate me?" Finn asked, caught somewhere between hopefulness and confusion, because seriously, Blaine was worse than Rachel with mixed messages, and _that _was saying something.

Blaine shook his head. "I don't hate you. You're kind of hateable, but I hate one person, and that's my father. And this week, I definitely hated you, but…" he shrugged, glancing up at Finn again.

Finn grinned and Blaine half smirked. "Does this mean you'll come to my house tonight to straighten things out with Kurt? I'll take the blame, but we both know he'll want to talk to you too." he asked hopefully.

Blaine looked away evasively. "I'm not so sure about that; I've kind of been an ass to Kurt the past couple days, I don't think he'd want-"

"Dude. He wants you there." Finn said firmly, cutting Blaine off yet again. Blaine looked confused and he said, "You two have been super sad all week. He wants you there. But an apology might help."

Blaine looked at him widely, but Finn wasn't sure it was much different than how his eyes usually looked. "I'm not big on apologies." he muttered.

"Time to get big. I'll talk to him when I get home, and I'll tell him what we said and whatever. You can come over at like, sevenish, to apologize. Only if you like Kurt, that is." he added with a smirk. "Do you like him?"

It took a long moment for Blaine to answer, long enough for Finn to think he wasn't going to respond. But when he did, it was so quiet Finn strained to hear him.

"I'm crazy about him."

Finn wasn't expecting that. He knew Blaine totally liked Kurt, but that was a much more personal response, and Blaine hadn't really _talked _to him before. They talked, but they didn't _talk_, about stuff like Blaine's extremely obvious crush on Kurt, they talked about football and their math class.

Finn stared at him for a second too long and Blaine rolled his eyes. "Well, cool man," Finn hurried to say. "He likes you too."

Blaine's lips pursed and Finn's brow furrowed. It should be a good thing, right?

"Was he really upset this week, because of me?" Blaine asked, his voice slightly higher in pitch, grunting like he was trying to hide it.

"Yeah, dude," Finn responded immediately. "He really cares about you, man."

Blaine didn't respond. He just picked his bag up off the floor and threw it onto his shoulder. "Are you okay, dude?" Finn asked.

Blaine nodded. "Yeah. It's just been a while since anyone's cared about me."

And with that, he left. Finn wasn't quite sure what to make of it. It wasn't a good thing that people didn't care about Blaine, or he didn't think people cared about him, but it could've been someone worse than Kurt caring about him.

**?!**

Finn got home after football practice, and saw his mom in the kitchen making dinner, and Burt in the recliner watching football. He said hello to his mom and walked to the stairs when Burt called him.

"Hey kid, you want to watch the game? Second half is just starting." Burt offered, nodding to the TV as the newscasters replayed the first half.

"Maybe after; I have to talk to Kurt." he responded.

"Hey, what's up with him?" Burt asked, stopping Finn from going up the stairs again. "He's seemed pretty down the past couple days."

Finn sort of shrugged. "It's kind of my fault."

Burt raised his eyebrows and Finn sighed. "I sort of said some dumb things to someone Kurt was close to, and then he sort of started avoiding Kurt without explanation because of what I said. So he's coming over later to apologize to Kurt, but first I have to tell Kurt why it all started, and then Kurt's probably gonna yell at me."

Burt took a long swig of beer once Finn finished talking. "So it's about a boy." he deduced. It seemed to Finn like that was all he took from that conversation.

Finn nodded. "Do I know him?" Burt asked, his protective father coming out at the mention of any boys Kurt might be involved with.

"It's Blaine."

Burt looked neither more comforted nor more concerned at the name. "It could be someone worse." he muttered at last.

Finn snorted. "Really? I was expecting you to start going on about his piercings, or his tattoo, or something."

Burt seemed to deliberate for a moment. "Kid's had a hard life." he decided before turning his attention back to the TV as the second half started.

Finn thought about that the whole walk upstairs. He took a deep breath once he reached Kurt's door, and knocked tentatively. Kurt's soft voice told him to enter, so he opened the door and saw him lying on his bed, surrounded by homework.

He looked up and saw Finn, before looking back down at his papers. "What do you need, Finn?"

"I need to talk to you." Finn said immediately.

Kurt sighed and closed his textbook and sat up to give Finn his attention. "What?"

Finn paused, and tried to think of a way to explain without sounding like the worst brother in the world. Kurt impatiently raised his eyebrow, and Finn decided to avoid the topic. "Are you feeling okay? You don't look too great."

Kurt rubbed his face in a clear sign of exhaustion. "I'm fine, just trying to balance my energy between a glee club who plays wild favoritism, the homework of three AP classes, a father who refuses to start taking care of his health without me ridding the house of anything unhealthy, and a best friend who's been ignoring me for days with no explanation whatsoever."

"Well I can help you with one of those." Finn offered. Kurt have Finn a pondering look. "It's the Blaine thing."

Kurt's cheek flushed slightly at the title 'the Blaine thing', but Finn continued as if he hadn't noticed. "I know why he's been ignoring you all week."

Kurt narrowed his eyes at Finn, and Finn swallowed nervously. "Just hear me out, okay?" he asked. Kurt rolled his eyes, but nodded.

"Well, none of us knew Blaine that well, and he was kind of all over you at the party, and-"

"Who's we?" Kurt asked.

"The glee guys minus Puck, now no interrupting. So anyway, we kind of were thinking he was trying to take advantage of you or something," Kurt's eyebrows raised dangerously high, and Finn started fearing for his safety. "And we went to talk to him. We meant for it to be friendly, but it sort of came out as us demanding him to leave you alone, and he started saying about how you didn't need us to take care of you, and then we tried again, and he kind of exploded on us. He started getting in our faces, and called us 'walking dildos', and started talking about his mom-"

"He told you about mom?" Kurt interrupted.

Finn nodded slowly and Kurt let out a sigh. "He doesn't talk to anyone about his mom." he said before adding "Besides me, he'd never told anyone at McKinley what happened to her."

A whole new wave of guilt ran over Finn. "Anyways, so he told us were just as narrow-minded as the rest of the school, and the reason he wasn't talking to you at all because he thought maybe you did want us to say all that stuff-"

Finn stopped talking as Kurt stood off of his bed and walked closer to him. Finn backed out of his room, and Kurt got to the doorway before he said, "Never, no matter how badly you think I need it, get involved in my love life again."

Finn gulped before the rest of the sentence registered in his mind. "Wait, _love_ life-"

He didn't get the full sentence out as Kurt slammed the door in his face. Finn stared at the door for a moment, the wood inches from his face, before walking downstairs and sitting down next to Burt to watch the game. Dinner was soon after, so Finn went up to tell Kurt, and came down just as quickly, as to not have to see him.

The four of them took their usual seats at the table, and Finn checked the time. Blaine should be over in half an hour. He ate dinner without saying anything, and Kurt didn't say anything either. Finn kept sneaking looks at him across the table, and thought he was being so sneaky Kurt hadn't noticed, but that was proven wrong when he looked over as Kurt took a bite of his dinner, and he kicked him in the shin.

Burt and Carole tried to keep a steady conversation flowing, but it was hard when half of the table weren't saying a single word, aside from an occasional 'ow' from Finn when Kurt caught him staring and kicked him under the table.

After an awkward lapse in conversation between Burt and Carole, and a particularly long stare from Finn, Kurt said, "Oh my god, Finn, what do you want?"

The adults looked at him in surprise, and Finn ducked his head and mumbled "Nothing."

"Then stop staring at my like I'm a zoo animal!"

Kurt snapped, his cold eyes finally making contact with Finn.

"Kurt," Burt said in a warning voice. Kurt just kept eating. Finn peeked at Kurt guiltily and kept eating. No one said anything for the rest of dinner.

Kurt finished quickly after that, and rinsed his plate in the sink before going back up to his room. Finn was the last one at the table, and when he'd gotten up to rinse his plate, someone rang the doorbell, and Finn saw it was about seven thirty. He half ran over to the door, and opened it to see Blaine, his hands stuffed in his pockets.

"He's in his room." Finn said, stepping back to let Blaine in. Blaine stepped inside the house and quickly went upstairs, leaving Finn to sigh to himself, "_Finally_."

**?!**

Blaine pulled into 415 Whitman Drive and saw it was only seven thirty. He didn't want to get to Kurt's on time (seven), because he didn't want to show up in the middle of dinner or during Finn's talk with him, so he elected for seven thirty. Of course, the drive was mildly terrifying given he was definitely over the speed limit, _and_ it was snowing.

He knocked on the front door before he could change his mind, and it was opened by Finn, who quickly said, "He's in his room."

Blaine walked past him and smiled at Burt and Carole in the living room before getting to Kurt's door. He knocked lightly, and Kurt called for him to come in, so he slowly opened the door and saw Kurt, lying on his bed, wearing a shirt that was too large and revealed his pale shoulders, reading. He looked over and jumped at the sight of Blaine. Blaine gave him a weak smile and walked into the room, shutting the door lightly behind him. He stepped out of his shoes and Kurt sat up and brushed his hair out of his eyes, setting down his book.

Blaine felt his chest tighten when he looked at Kurt. He felt breathless. He hadn't seen Kurt since Tuesday. Other than Facebook stalking him, but that didn't count. God, he missed Kurt. It was like how you realize how hungry you are once food's in front of you; you knew before you were hungry, but once you got your food, it was like you'd never eaten before in your life.

He didn't say anything as he sat on the edge of Kurt's bed and stared at him. Kurt didn't say anything either, and just stared back. Blaine scratched the back of his neck and muttered, "Hi."

"Oh, so you're talking to me?" Blaine flinched at his words, but he knew he deserved them. "I'm sorry, I know why you did it." Kurt sighed.

Blaine moved closer to him. "Don't apologize, I definitely deserve it. What did Finn tell you?"

Kurt looked up and met Blaine's eyes. "He told me he and the guys told you to back off, and you weren't thrilled about it. He also said you called them 'walking dildos.'"

Blaine bit his lip to hide his smile, but looked up and saw Kurt smiling at him. "What interested me the most, though… you told them about your mom?"

Blaine's smile faded. "Yeah. I didn't really mean to, it just slipped out." He met Kurt's eyes again. "I'm so sorry."

Kurt took Blaine's hand and held onto it. "It's okay. I know why you did it."

"That doesn't mean I should have." Blaine mumbled.

"Yes, but I care a lot more about the fact that you're here now."

Blaine's shoulders slumped and he pouted at Kurt as he asked, "So you're not mad?"

Kurt shook his head. "I was never mad. I was just concerned. About you, if something happened to you, or it I did something-"

"You thought this was your fault?" Blaine interrupted. Kurt didn't give him an answer and Blaine scooted closer to him and said, "Kurt, you're perfect."

Kurt's cheeks flooded with color, and Blaine smiled at them, because he was the one to put that splash of pink on his skin. "I'm not perfect." he mumbled.

"You know you are," Blaine said with a grin.

Kurt shrugged and said, "I don't know, this week I couldn't help but think I did something. I mean, we went from making out at a party on Friday and spending the weekend together, to ignoring me Wednesday morning. I thought you might've changed your mind about not caring that I don't want to have sex, or something. Decided I wasn't worth the effort."

That hurt Blaine's heart, because in his mind, Kurt was worth more than anything Blaine could give him, and he was upset he thought any less. "Kurt," Blaine said, making him look at him again. "I'm never going to just decide I don't like you because of something like that."

"You like me?"

In Blaine's mind, he had two options: lie, and make up some crap excuse for the wording, or say 'as a friend' and destroy the chances of ever having any kind of non-platonic thing with Kurt, or two, admit to Kurt he had real feelings for him and ask him out or something.

"Yeah." he said, his mouth forming the words before his brain approved it. "I do. I like you quite a bit."

Kurt grew a smile Blaine hadn't seen before. He showed his teeth. Blaine grinned back at him before he could help himself, and Kurt took his hand.

"Then you should know, that I like you too." he murmured softly. Blaine inched closer to him and Kurt pushed Blaine's dark curls off of his forehead, letting his fingers linger for a second longer than they needed to.

Blaine snatched Kurt's hand in his own and laced their fingers together. It felt extraordinarily natural, which was weird to him, because it wasn't like he and Kurt held hands all the time, it just felt like they should.

He looked up at Kurt, and saw his eyes peering down at their hands, an almost childlike zeal in them that Blaine hadn't seen before.

He took a moment to really look over Kurt and his features. From the first time he saw Kurt, he thought he was attractive, and oddly compelling. But he'd never seen how truly remarkable his looks were. The blond highlights in his hair that he could only see in direct light, and the small, light freckles scattered across his nose and cheeks, and the perfect angle of his nose. The way his lips were always in a perfect little pout and the way his eyelashes fanned across his cheeks. The dimples he got whenever he smiled, and the unforgettable glow of his eyes.

He placed a finger under Kurt's chin, and Kurt lifted his head to see Blaine's eyes for barely a second before their lips were touching. The kiss was gentle, and soft, and Blaine felt Kurt's shock quickly melt into something quite different.

Blaine hands cupped Kurt's face, and felt something strange stirring inside him. He wasn't going to start going on about true love like the girl in every book with a focus group of teenage girls, but it felt like something was changing. And it was.

Blaine wasn't gentle, he wasn't patient, or cautious. So why was he kissing Kurt with a sort of tenderness he'd never felt for anyone before? Blaine was selfish and bitter. So why was he so willing to give and give up anything for this boy? Blaine wasn't sweet or romantic. So why was this boy making him want to start buying him flowers, and leaving cute notes in his locker, or surprising him with extravagant dates? Blaine was self-deprecating and he didn't think he was worth a damn. So why was this boy able to make him feel important again just with a little kiss, or a touch of the fingertips?

Kurt started to pull his lips back, but Blaine chased them, not wanting to feel his lips untangled from Kurt's. Slowly, he and Kurt leaned backward until Kurt was lying on top of his pillows, with Blaine hovering above him.

He started to wonder about all of it. About him, and Kurt, and how he felt about Kurt, because those thoughts were all pretty scrambled. Because he liked Kurt, but no, he didn't, he couldn't like him. He wanted to be with Kurt, but no, he didn't, Blaine didn't do relationships.

But instead of trying to figure it out, he allowed himself to simply forget about it, and focus all his efforts into kissing Kurt. Kurt was a really good kisser. This was sort of surprising to him, because he knew he'd never had a boyfriend, or even a flame.

"Where'd you learn to kiss like this?" Blaine mumbled against his lips.

Kurt smiled and captured Blaine's lips in another kiss before he breathed, "Brittany."

Blaine started precariously placing kisses along Kurt's neck and jaw. "What?"

"I tried being straight for my dad last year, and I dated Brittany for a day and a half." Kurt answered as Blaine started sucking on his clavicle.

"Nope," he said, pushing Blaine's face away from his collar bone. "No hickeys, or my dad will kill you."

Blaine made a high pitch whine, but Kurt ignored it and started kissing his way down Blaine's neck. "You're no fun." he complained.

Kurt nipped at Blaine's skin and responded. "Well if I'm no fun, maybe you should find someone else to make out with."

"Nooo," Blaine moaned, "I want to make out with _you_."

Kurt grinned and murmured, "Well, I want to make out with you too. But my dad will kill me, and kill you if I have a hickey."

Kurt brought his lips back to Blaine's and without a word, rolled them over so he was on top of Blaine, straddling his hips.

He knew it was a little weird he was so easily willing to make out with Blaine again right after they made up after a week of Blaine ignoring him, and before that, not wanting anything physical with him. Maybe it was just being Blaine-free for a week that made him want him so much more. They say you always want what you can't have.

"Why didn't you ask me?" Kurt asked suddenly, muttering around Blaine's eager lips. "I mean, ask if I wanted the guys to talk to you."

Blaine shrugged and Kurt rested a few inches above him, his forearms on Blaine's chest. "I figured you wanted it."

"But… but you knew I liked you." He murmured. "You knew then how I felt about you."

Blaine breathed out of his nose, gazing at Kurt's face peacefully, his eyes unintentionally stooping to Kurt's lips. "Yes, well, the thing about you, Mr. Hummel," Blaine started slowly, "Is as much as I would _love _to be able to read you, and predict your next move…" he glanced up at Kurt's eyes again, flickering between the two of them. "You always zig right when I think you're about to zag."

Kurt grinned. "Good," he murmured. "I'm glad I'm not as transparent as I feel I am in front of you."

Blaine sighed, brushing his hair through Kurt's bangs. "I'm not. I'd love to know what you're always thinking about. It'd make things a lot easier."

Kurt smiled and nudged his nose against Blaine's. "You want to know what I'm thinking right now?" Blaine just smiled lazily, his eyes flickering down to Kurt's lips again, making his heartbeat stutter. "I'm thinking… that I'd love it if you kissed me right now."

The boy underneath him grinned and he leaned up just enough to touch his lips to Kurt's softly, tugging Kurt's bottom lip with his teeth. Blaine hummed into his lips. Thank god Kurt hadn't given up on him. The last week had been one of the worst of Blaine's _life_ without Kurt being there. There was just something about this boy that made Blaine want to stay with him forever, and be with him forever.

He wasn't even sure why. Why being away from Kurt was infinitely worse than being away from anyone else. Why without Kurt, Blaine was a completely different person. Why he blushed when someone mentioned Kurt. Why he always felt like he was just punched in the gut whenever he saw Kurt walking down the hall-

Holy shit. Blaine was falling for Kurt, wasn't he?

**?!**

Blaine didn't leave until around nine, when Finn walked in and left in a haste when he saw them making out on the bed. The kind of making out that was moany, and half-grinding, and probably scarring for Finn to witness.

That's when they took a break long enough to check the time and realize how late it was.

Kurt didn't walk him downstairs because he didn't want his dad to see his cherry red kissed lips, or messy hair, especially not the suspicious little red marks on his neck. So they simply said goodbye at his bedroom door.

"I'll see you on Monday?" Kurt inquired.

Blaine paused for a moment. "Do you want to come over tomorrow? John's not going to be home till tomorrow night, I'd love for you to meet Mary and the kids."

Kurt grinned. "I'd love to."

"Yeah?" Blaine sounded more surprised than Kurt particularly liked, but he had to remind himself Blaine hadn't remotely opened up to people since his mom died.

He pecked him on the lips. "Yeah."

Blaine smiled and held onto Kurt's hands. "Come over whenever." He said to him. "I'll be home."

Kurt nodded and looked down at their hands shyly, biting his lower lip trying not to smile too big. "I'll be there as soon as I can." He murmured. Blaine leaned towards him, standing on his toes to press his lips to Kurt's again before walking downstairs to leave.

When Blaine turned the corner and was out-of-sight, Kurt shut his door and pressed his back against it, grinning widely. He heard Blaine's motorcycle rev outside and he jumped back off the door and to his closet; big day tomorrow, he needed a nice outfit.

**?!**

Kurt got to Blaine's house around noon the next day and rang the doorbell. He wanted to leave earlier, but his dad made him wait for the roads to be plowed again before he left. He took a small step back as the door was opened.

Kurt stared ahead blankly for a second before he looked down at who opened the door. It was a girl, who looked around six, with long, messy, dark hair, standing in fuzzy pink pajamas. She stared at Kurt for a moment before she grinned widely, showing her sort of crooked, white teeth, just like Blaine's.

"Are you Blaine's boyfriend?" She asked excitedly, bouncing on her heels. "Curd?"

Kurt flushed and corrected her, paying special attention to the t. Boyfriend, huh?

She repeated it. "Blaine talks about you a lot. Not when daddy's home, but still a lot." The corners of Kurt's mouth turned upward and he tried not to get overly pleased that Blaine was talking about him with his family. "My name's Rosheen, but you can call me Rosie, only mommy calls me Rosheen."

Kurt smiled and said, "It's nice to meet you, Rosie."

"Rosie!" A boy came hurtling toward the door, a boy who must've been an inch or two shorter than Rosie, stopped abruptly when he saw Kurt. Strikingly different than Blaine and Rosie, he was almost as pale as Kurt, and had straight, lighter brown hair, but the same deep hazel eyes.

He grinned at him, and Kurt noticed he was missing his two front teeth. "You're _him_. Right?"

"I think so?" Kurt responded, confusion and glee fighting for dominance in his expression.

The boy laughed and looked at Rosie and said, "Let him in!" He shoved her out of the way and grabbed Kurt's wrist and pulled him inside the house, closing the door behind him. "I'm Ben."

"Hi, Ben-"

Blaine came clambering down the stairs, pulling a red belt through the loops of his jeans. He grinned at Kurt as he came down the stairs and kissed him on the cheek. Ben and Rosie both giggled loudly and Blaine hushed them.

"I guess you met the kids." He surmised, grinning at Kurt with excitement in his eyes.

Rosie answered in place of Kurt. "You were right, B. He _is_ cute."

Blaine flushed bright red and Kurt laughed with Ben. "Okay," he said. "I think that's enough out of you two."

Blaine took Kurt's hand and pulled him into the kitchen, but the kids followed.

"Where's your mama?" Blaine asked as he sat Kurt beside Ben and Rosie on a seat at the island in the middle of the kitchen.

"Upstairs." Rosie answered. "She's finishing getting ready."

"Mommy!" Ben yelled in the direction of the stairwell. "Kurt's here!"

There was more clamoring down the stairs and a woman stopped in the doorway of the kitchen. She was beautiful. Her dark curls were pulled up messily in a bun on top of her head; her skin seemed to glow in the omnipresent lighting pouring out of the entrance. Even in her ratty overalls she was beautiful, her face aged with laugh lines at the corners of her eyes and her freckles contradicting an otherwise creamy complexion.

She grinned a big, toothy grin and said, "Kurt, it's so nice to meet you, I've heard a lot about you."

"Mary," Blaine said in a whiny tone.

"What?" she said defensively. "It's true."

Kurt smiled over at Blaine, and his grin grew wider when he saw Blaine was blushing.

"So Kurt," Mary said to him. She sat down at a seat opposite him and said, "Tell me about yourself. I want to know every dirty little secret my little boy's getting himself involved in."

"Okay, first of all," Blaine said before Kurt could finish blushing, "I'm not your little boy, I'm not your boy at all." Mary rolled her eyes to Kurt. "Besides, Kurt doesn't have to tell you anything about himself, and neither of us said anything about involvement."

She snorted. "Whatever you say, sweetheart," she brushed him off in that condescending, _I know better than you _voice that only parents can manage. "Kurt doesn't mind, does he?"

Kurt saw Blaine shaking his head behind his aunt's back and Kurt smirked proudly at him and said, "I don't mind at all."

Blaine groaned and she said, "Stop your groaning and make yourself useful, would you?"

"Blainey, make lunch!" Rosie cheered excitedly.

"Lunch, lunch, lunch," Ben started chanting beside her.

Mary turned to Blaine with a grin taking up her face. "The people have spoken."

Blaine shot her a very ugly look and said, "Fine."

Mary turned back to Kurt with a proud smile and said, "Okay, as I was saying, what's your story, Kurt?"

Kurt scratched the back of his neck and said, "I'm not sure there _is _much a story. Not yet anyways."

"Well, _that's_ not true," Blaine said with his back turned to them, working at the stove.

"Excuse me, mister; I believe I asked for an _auto_biography." She said to him.

Ben and Rosie giggled and Blaine didn't respond. Kurt smiled at Mary and said, "Well you certainly know how to keep him grounded."

She winked at him and said, "I do my best."

"Kurt," Rosie said, tugging on his sleeve to get his attention. "You're really pretty for a boy."

Blaine chuckled and Kurt looked at his back and said, "You're jealous you're not really pretty for a boy." He turned to Rosie with a genuine smile, "Thank you, Rosie."

"So tell me," Mary started. "How was Blaine granted the pleasure of your company?"

"School. We were assigned a project together, so we got to know each other pretty well." He explained easily.

"Oh, that's very sweet - Ben, shirt down." Mary said. Kurt looked at the boy who had pulled is shirt up over his head for no reason.

"I want lunch!" he whined.

Right on cue, Blaine turned around and started passing around plastic bowls of Kraft mac and cheese. Ben and Rosie dug in immediately, and Blaine handed a bowl to his aunt before sitting down beside Kurt, passing him a bowl as well.

"Well aren't we classy," he teased as Mary pulled a bib around Ben's neck.

Blaine just poked him in the side and started eating. Mary was too busy fighting the bib onto Ben, so Rosie turned to them for attention. "What's your favorite color?" she asked Kurt.

Before he got a chance to answer, she asked, "What's your favorite movie? No – who's your favorite princess?"

Blaine shot Kurt a sympathetic look, but he smiled and answered, "I love the color blue, and the musical Rent, and my favorite princess is Ariel."

Rosie's eyes lit up. "Momma, can we watch _The Little Mermaid_?!" she asked excitedly.

"Maybe later, hon." Mary said dismissively, sitting back down beside the pouting Ben.

"But, mom!" Rosie whined loudly.

"Hon, don't you want to watch a Christmas movie?" Mary asked, looking back up at her daughter.

"But mommy, Ariel's Kurt's _favorite _princess!"

"Well than what choice do we have?" Mary asked playfully. "After lunch, okay, sweetie?"

Rosie nodded and started eating faster. Blaine leaned close to Kurt's ear and whispered, "I hope you know what you've gotten yourself into."

Kurt laughed and ate his lunch without saying much else. As soon as Mary gave the okay, Rosie jumped out of her seat and pulled Kurt, who pulled Blaine, into the family room.

Rosie sat beside Kurt on the couch as Blaine put in the disc. Ben meandered in and sat down on the other side of Rosie, clutching what Blaine informed him was "Ben's movie blanket." Blaine started the movie and dimmed the lights before climbing onto the couch beside Kurt and wrapping an arm snug around Kurt's waist. Kurt leaned into him and pulled his feet up on the couch and rested his chin on his knees.

Watching _The Little Mermaid_ with Blaine's cousins was one of the cutest things he'd experienced in his life. Ben and Rosie sang along to every song word for word, not caring when they were sharp or flat, or just singing the wrong lyrics. Blaine hummed along as well, but didn't sing, despite Kurt's protests. Rosie convinced Kurt to sing with her on a few of the songs, and Blaine quoted several parts of the movie with Ben, imitating the voices and everything.

More than once, Kurt would turn his head and press his lips to Blaine's when there wasn't a big scene or musical number, but every time Rosie would pat Kurt's leg and ask, "Are you still watching?"

Mary walked in a few times, in between doing loads of laundry and working on her laptop and smiled at them, pressing a kiss onto her kid's heads, or combing through Blaine's curls. She'd never stay long, just long enough to make Kurt's heart warm by her cute gestures she made to her kids, or the smiles she directed at him.

By the time they neared the end of the film, Rosie was out cold, drooling on herself, Ben was on the brink of sleep, sniffling and stuttering as unconsciousness came over him. At some point, Kurt had thrown his legs over Blaine's and laid his head on his chest, with Blaine's arms wrapped tighter around him, though for the last fifteen minutes or so, they'd given up the pretense of watching the movie and were kissing rather passionately for having two kids next to them.

Kurt pulled back first, pressing a few more kisses on Blaine's face. "I'm glad I came over today," he murmured.

Blaine smiled and hummed his agreement. "Me too. It's been a good day." He mumbled. He hesitated before he said, "I really missed you. When we weren't talking, I… yeah. I missed you."

"I missed you too." Kurt said, kissing him softly. "I should probably get going though, my dad wants me home before dinner tonight."

"Kurt," Blaine moaned. "You're going to leave me all afternoon with the aftermath of watching Disney movies in the middle of the day?"

Kurt chuckled and pressed a kiss onto Blaine's jaw. "I'll see you Monday."

"Monday's so far away," he whined.

"Well, maybe if you're lucky, I'll invite you over tomorrow." Kurt said, whispering into Blaine's ear to get his point across. "You know, Finn'll be the only one home. I bet if I told him I wasn't feeling well, he'd leave me alone _all day_." Blaine moaned softly into his skin. "And it's almost holiday break. We can spend so much time together."

Blaine let out a bitter laugh. "Actually we _can't_."

"What? Why?" Kurt asked, scooting more so he was actually in Blaine's lap.

"John and Mary booked themselves a cruise to the Bahamas for their anniversary, and when Ben and Rose found out they cried for an entire day, so they decided to bring them. And then they decided to bring _me_, because Mary, for some bizarre reason, thought I _wouldn't _like the house to myself for a week, and John wants me to baby-sit his kids." Blaine explained, running his hands over Kurt's back.

Kurt sighed. "Well that sucks." He mumbled. "I mean, have fun on your cruise, but…" he trailed off vaguely.

"Well," Blaine said, shifting and holding Kurt slightly further away so it was easier to talk to him. "I have two days between when school gets out and when I leave, and we get back the thirtieth, really late. So that means two days before I'm gone, and then New Year's day, and the end of New Year's Eve."

"Yeah, well you know cruises, you might not get back until the end of New Year's, and I won't see you until school starts." Kurt said sardonically.

"Why do you have to be so disagreeable?" Blaine asked.

Kurt just smiled and slid off of his lap. "I seriously have to go, my dad wants me home and it's supposed to start snowing again soon."

Blaine stood up with him and walked him to the front door, helping Kurt with his coat. Kurt slipped on his boots and turned to Blaine. "I'll see you on Monday." He said with a smile.

"What happened to tomorrow?" Blaine asked petulantly.

Kurt smiled and brushed Blaine's curls behind his ear. "If you're lucky." He said again before leaning forward. Blaine met him halfway and kissed him slowly, not working to deepen the kiss, just enjoying having Kurt's lips on his. Kurt pulled back when he heard another car pull into the driveway. Blaine froze and Kurt asked lowly, "Is that John?"

Blaine nodded and Kurt pecked his lips once more before he said, "Okay, I'll go."

"No, no," Blaine hurried to say, grabbing Kurt's bicep. "We – we shouldn't let him mandate our – our –"

Kurt placed a feather light hand on his face. "Blaine," he said softly. "Don't worry. That's a battle for another day, okay?"

Blaine nodded and Kurt kissed his lips one last time before he opened the door and walked out into the light snow. John must've parked in the garage, because when Kurt got to his car, John's was nowhere in sight, nor was the man himself.

He was very nervous to meet John. It was obvious Blaine was uncomfortable around him, and he knew John wasn't good to Blaine, so he knew he wouldn't like him, so it wasn't unreasonable to not want to meet him. And he'd have to eventually, but he'd had such a good day, he didn't want to spoil it with a man who'd hate him on principal. He sent a quick text to his dad to let him know he was on his way home and got into his car as the snow started picking up.


	8. Gosh, Your Lips Look Delicious

The last day before break was filled with excitement and joy and the Christmas spirit, to say the least. Kurt thought the hallways of decorations were bad before, they were nothing compared to now. Every surface had a snowflake, or a Christmas ornament, or a randomly placed dreidel, despite coach Sylvester's constant attempts to tear them down, they kept miraculously springing back up. Kurt saw probably a dozen Santa's hats, and it wasn't even first period yet.

"Hey, Kurt." Mercedes said, walking up to him at his locker. "Puck's having a New Year's party, you coming?"

Kurt's nose wrinkled. "Puck's throwing a party? That sounds interesting." He said, checking his hair in his mirror. "Who's going?"

"Probably everyone in the glee club, some football players and cheerios, I don't know." She answered vaguely, waving her hand like it wasn't important.

Kurt rolled his eyes. "Yeah, cause I want to spend my night with football players and cheerios."

Mercedes nudged his shoulder. "C'mon, you don't have to hang out with them. Hang out with us, and invite your boo."

He shot her a dark look as he closed his locker. "You know he's not my boo. Besides, he might not even be back from vacation yet."

Mercedes shrugged. "Fine, but you should still come. Oh, and we're going to Denny's after to get pumped about Regionals!"

Kurt pantomimed gagging. "If you think going to Denny's will convince me to join you, I'm not sure we're friends." He said dauntingly.

She rolled her eyes as they stepped into their History class. Once class got started, it was clear to Mercedes that Blaine still wasn't there and she asked, "Where's Blaine?"

Kurt checked his phone for messages. "Not sure. I'm guessing he slept in, because he didn't text me this morning."

"He texts you every morning?" she asked dubiously.

Kurt sent Blaine a quick inquiring text and nodded to his friend. "We usually carpool, so yeah. If not, he'll tell me if he's staying home so I can take notes for him."

Mercedes gave him a long look and eventually said, "You _sure_ he's not your boo?"

He rolled his eyes and pulled out last night's homework as Mr. Hanford started walking around to check it. He and Mercedes didn't say much else as their teacher lectured on about something no one listened to for about ten minutes before realizing no one, not even himself, was pretending to care.

Mr. Hanford disappeared for about five minutes or so and came back lugging in the giant DVD player on wheels and a copy of _It's a Wonderful Life,_ accompanied with a meek reasoning as to how it relates to history. Not ten minutes into the movie, the door was opened and Blaine walked in, looking very scruffy with an unshaven face and sweatpants. He handed Mr. Hanford a note and took his seat beside Kurt.

"Thanks for texting me," he breathed to Kurt as to not disturb their classmates. "My alarm didn't go off this morning, Mary just dropped me off." He set his travel mug on Kurt's desk. "I brought you hot chocolate."

Kurt accepted the cup which instantly warmed up his hands, breathing in the smell and sending a smile to Blaine. He mouthed at him, "Thank you."

Blaine laid his head down on the table, propped up on his arms to watch the film, inching closer to Kurt. Kurt wished he could thank Blaine with a kiss on the cheek like a normal couple, but they weren't a normal couple, they weren't even a couple. And even though they acted like one sometimes, they had a sort of unspoken agreement to not show PDA in school. Partly because their friends would never leave them alone about it, partly because of all the homophobes.

After class, the boys walked to their usual departing spot and Blaine snuck a kiss on Kurt's cheek before walking the opposite direction as him to his second block class. Second block for both of them were their language classes, so when Kurt went to predictably watch _Joyeux Noël_, Blaine learned how to sing Christmas songs in Italian.

Then they had lunch together, where they sat with the glee club. The New Directions all sat together and Blaine joined them because, well, _Kurt_. He used to just find a quiet spot by himself, but after he became friends with Kurt, and after their blow out from the glee club involving themselves in their relationship, he started sitting with them.

He was on his way to lunch when he heard, "Blaine! Blaine, dude!" Puck hurried over to Blaine, shoving kids out of the way to get to him faster. He got up to Blaine and started walking with him. "I'm throwing a party for New Years, you should go. We're starting around dinner time, and you can leave whenever you want, s'long as it's after midnight."

"I don't know, man." he sighed, but before he got out any reasoning, Puck interrupted.

"Dude, you _can't_ keep skipping out on me; besides, your boy's going." He said as Blaine led him into the cafeteria.

"I don't know if I'll be back in time," Puck glowered at him. "Hey, I'm being forced onto a vacation with my fake family, you know I'd rather be there."

Puck sighed and sat down with him at the glee club table. "Whatever, man. Just show up if you can, okay?" Blaine nodded dutifully. He grabbed his lunch out of his bag as others started reaching the table with their lunches. The lines were really long though because it was tater tot day. Honestly, Blaine didn't understand the school's obsession with them at all, but to each their own.

He peered around the cafeteria and saw Kurt in line with Mercedes. Kurt was wonderful. Clearly he thought so, but it was still a little thrilling to hear, because it was still bizarre to him that he and Kurt were like, a thing. They were still unofficial and uncertain about what their thing was, but they were back to being happy, so they didn't need to push it. But that's not to say Blaine wouldn't love to actually be dating Kurt. Like, being able to hold hands when they walked to class together, and acknowledging that they were very far from being "just friends". He wanted all that a lot, but Blaine's never really sure where he lies with Kurt. He has an idea, but Kurt's so unlike anyone he'd known, he was still learning how to be with him, and how to keep him happy and everything. He wasn't positive a boyfriend was exactly what Kurt needed, or even wanted, and he didn't want to screw them up by asking Kurt to be exclusively, officially with him.

"Lost in thought?" Blaine looked up and saw Mike smiling at him knowingly. "I've been talking at you for like a minute and I'm thinking you weren't aware."

Blaine smirked, turning a little red. "Sorry, man, just… distracted."

"I can tell." Mike assured him. He looked over to where Blaine was staring, spotting Kurt in line. "How are you two?"

Blaine couldn't keep a smile from worming its way onto his face. "Great. Yeah, back to normal." Mike looked at him for a long moment, seeing on his face that Blaine had more to say. "How did you ask out Tina? I mean, you just started making out one day, right?"

"You want to ask out Kurt?" he asked, his eyebrows raising.

"Maybe?" Blaine responded, his cheeks still a little pink. "I just… I don't know if I should. I mean, what do people usually do?"

"Well, when people like each other, they usually start going out," he informed him condescendingly. "Which you already have, and if they still like each other, they usually become a couple. You know, boyfriend/girlfriend. Or boyfriend/boyfriend." When he wasn't given a response, he added gently, "Just ask him out, man. You know he'll say yes."

Blaine pursed his lips, thinking it over. "So… Do people other than you and Tina know that Kurt and I are…"

"Hooking up?" Mike suggested with a grin. "Not really. Most everyone suspects _something_, but no one knows. I think Santana's pretty certain with her convictions but a lot of people think you're just close."

Blaine nodded. Before he responded, Kurt sat down beside him like he usually did, kissing him on the cheek because no one was looking besides Mike, who just smirked at Blaine. "Thanks for the hot chocolate this morning, I think it's the only thing that kept me awake."

Blaine snorted and dug into his lunch, pulling out one of the gingerbread cookies Ben and Rosie made last night, pushing aside his current thoughts.

"This is for you," he said, handing one to Kurt. It was technically a sugar cookie, it was just shaped like a gingerbread man because Ben's allergic to gingerbread. Rosie designed it, with red frosting for hair and an entirely blue outfit with green polka dots. "Rosie made it, she made me pinky swear I'd give it to you."

"Is it me?" Kurt asked.

"Can't you tell? It looks just like you." Kurt laughed and looked at Blaine, who just shrugged. "She likes you."

"I met her once." Kurt pointed out, setting his cookie down on his tray.

"Yeah, and you watched _The Little Mermaid_ with her. I'm pretty sure she likes you more than me right now." Blaine teased, nudging Kurt.

"Are you going to Puck's party New Years? I assume he told you." Kurt said, beginning to eat his lunch.

"I'd like to, I'm just not one hundred percent sure I'll be back in Ohio." Blaine responded, eating the Blaine cookie Ben made him.

Kurt was going to respond but before he did, Santana sat down across from them and said loudly, "Hey, gays."

Kurt rolled his eyes. "Hello, Satan."

Blaine tried to hide his smile by looking down at his food, but it apparently didn't work, because not a second later Santana kicked his shin under the table.

"Ow!" he exclaimed. "Why would you kick me?"

"Santana, don't abuse Blaine."

"I didn't mean to kick you, I meant to kick Kurt."

Blaine groaned, holding his probably bruised shin, Kurt patted him on the leg, but didn't move his hand off of his thigh after. That was distracting. But it was also a great opportunity to sneak his hand into Kurt's and hold it under the table. He was pretty sure no one noticed, but it was a little harder to eat his lunch with only one hand.

The only downside to sitting with the glee club, was all they ever talked about was glee club. Kurt, or Mike, or Quinn was always having to keep him up to date or he'd sit there completely silent wondering if they were serious about Brittany still believing in Santa.

After a very lengthy discussion on decorating the choir room again, Kurt turned to Blaine and asked, "Are you doing anything after school today?" Blaine shook his head. "Do you think you could for me after glee club, meet me in the choir room? I want your help with something."

Blaine could see Kurt's eyes lit up with excitement, which often meant mischief. "What do you have planned?" he asked.

Kurt just smiled. "You'll see."

?!

Blaine had a bit of time to kill after school, before glee got out, so he just spent time in the weight room, boxing for a while, plugging in his ear buds so he could the meat heads on the football who had nothing better to do but try and give him crap. It worked pretty well, and none of them tried bothering him physically, because they knew Blaine would not hesitate to use them as his new punching bag.

He went into one of the showers when it was nearing the time Kurt was usually done, because he didn't know what Kurt was planning, but he still didn't want to be sweaty and disgusting for it. The problem with showering was he could no longer listen to music to ignore the assholes around him.

It was Karofsky, Azimio, and some kid he was pretty sure was named Chris who were still in there with him. They were tossing around a football, but stopped when they noticed him a few minutes later and saw he was in a position of vulnerability, given he was naked and wet. "Hey, buttboy," Karofsky called to him, walking over.

"Are you thinking about my butt while I'm showering? That's pretty gay, Karofsky." He quipped.

"Enough wisecracking, lady boy." Azimio snapped at him, crossing his arms.

Blaine just rolled his eyes and tried to ignore them, grabbing his soap. It looked like Chris was trying to make them leave, but Karofsky just snapped at him, "Shut it, Strando, don't be such a girl!"

Blaine decided to cut his shower short, wrapping a towel around his waist and shutting the water and pulling on his boxers. Just as he was about to step out of the stall, Karofsky and Azimio stood in the way. He sighed deeply. "Listen, boys, as fun as this is, I'm not really down for an orgy right now, so if you wouldn't mind-" he tried to push past them, but no luck.

Shit. It was going to be one of those conversations. It would've been so easy to end it all, but that would've directly involved outing Karofsky, and yeah, Blaine hated him and would've loved to ruin his life, but… not like that. His hair was still sopping, dripping uncomfortably down his neck and onto his face. He shook out his hair like a dog, hoping to get some of it on the douchebags in front of him, and pulling on his jeans.

"We don't like you, Anderson," Azimio started as Blaine pulled his shirt over his head. Even wearing clothes, he felt a hell of a lot less helpless than before. "We don't like your disrespect, we don't like that you're hanging out with those gays in the glee club, and we definitely don't like you and that fairy, Hummel."

Blaine's jaw clenched when he mentioned Kurt. That's where it became not okay. "Congrats, Adams!" he mocked. "You spoke a whole sentence! That's more than I thought you'd be capable of, truth be told."

Azimio glowered at him and Karofsky took over the threatening, or whatever they were trying to do. "You know, we've slushied all of your friends, and realized it's about time we introduced you to your official life of loserdome here at McKinley." He said, looking at his friends. "It's initiation day."

Blaine tensed and took a more defensive position but it didn't matter, cause Karofsky and Azimio both grabbed him, and he might've been able to take them on one-on-one, but not double teamed. They snapped something at Strando, and he turned the faucet of the shower back on high. The other two lifted him up, grabbing his arms and legs and holding him under the shower head.

Blaine tried to wrestle his way out of their hold, ducking as well as he could out from underneath the water, but Strando grabbed the back of his head and forced him to stay still. He kicked and jutted as well as he could, but it was hard to defend himself when he couldn't see and was slowing drowning.

"Stop struggling," Karofsky growled. "It's nothing you don't deserve, faggot."

He was swallowing a lot of water, trying to breath, still jerking his limbs to try and get put down, water soaking through his hair and his clothes. It definitely getting harder to hold him, since he was slicked with water and trying to get the hell away from them. Strando tugged his hair back, making his cough into the flood of water that invaded his mouth and up his nose, making him squeeze his eyes shut. Fuck, this was bad. He was definitely losing breath if his dizziness was any indication. His chest was heaving, he could feel himself about to pass out, but fuck, he did not want them to win. This school was his new start, he was not getting fucked over here, no fucking way.

"What the hell are you doing?!" Blaine's head was too cloudy to really notice who was talking. He heard a few pairs of feet run over and he felt the tension on his head leave. He was dropped onto the ground, and he didn't have time to catch himself. He registered a lot of yelling, but he was pretty preoccupied, you know, not being dead.

Someone shut off the water and he started coughing all the water in his mouth and lungs, sitting on his knees, curled into himself. He heaved for a minute, getting all the fucking water out of him and heard a few more people enter, and someone mutter, "Go get Kurt."

Once he was done puking out all the excess water, he gasped, just trying to breathe again, his eyes still squeezed tight. When he was able to start breathing normally again, he sat against the wall of the shower, and looked up.

Mike and Finn were standing in front of him with wide eyes. "Hey, dude." Finn said eventually. "You okay?"

Blaine just coughed up a little more water. Mike stepped into the shower and extended his hand, helping Blaine up. Blaine's head was pounding so hard he had to sit down again, slouching on the bench near Finn, holding his head in his hands. Ugh. Worst day ever.

"Sam went to get Mr. Schue and Kurt," Mike said, sitting beside him. "Seriously though, are you okay?"

"Fine," Blaine grunted.

"We came in with Sam once glee was over to grab out bags," Finn said, gesturing to their lockers. "And we saw them holding you – were they trying to drown you or something?" he asked in concern.

Blaine shook his head. "Not really. I mean, yes, but only to send a message."

"What message?"

"They don't like me."

They were quiet for a moment, and Mike asked, "How long did they have you under there for?"

Blaine was still soaking wet, dripping onto the floor, the only sound for a moment the splatter of droplets hitting the linoleum. "I don't know. A minute? Maybe two?"

The locker room doors swung open, and Mr. Schue, Kurt, Sam, and Coach Bieste all came in, their faces all varying from concern to anger. Kurt hurried over to him, clutching his bag, and taking Blaine hands off his face, looking him in the eye and mumbling, "Okay?"

The doors opened and in came what seemed to be the rest of the glee club. They all started crowding him, Schue and Bieste in the front. "Blaine, what happened? Who did this?"

He rubbed his eyes for a second, answering after brushing his bangs up, as they were still flopped down, plastered to his forehead. "It was Azimio, Strando, and Karofsky." Mr. Schue asked again what happened, and Blaine groaned, so not wanting to talk about it. "I finished taking a shower, they triple teamed me and gave me my 'initiation into loserdome'," he grumbled, rolling his eyes.

"They held him under the water for a minute, maybe two, before Finn, Sam, and I got here. Then they took off." Mike said, knowing Blaine wasn't planning on cooperating.

Coach Bieste's face was so red it was starting to turn purple. "Let's go, Anderson, right now. We're going to principal Figgins."

"No, we're not." Blaine responded just as easily, getting a stir from the onlookers.

"Blaine-" Kurt tried, turning to him in surprise.

Mr. Schue and Bieste started protesting too, and the Spanish teacher said, "Blaine, this is a serious hate crime. This is assault, we need to go to the principal."

"Yes, an assault that had no witnesses besides myself." He said brusquely. "Figgins is an idiot, he won't know what to do, it'll be word against there's. You know it's true."

"They still need to be held accountable," Bieste argued. "Whether it's detention or a talking to, we can't let them get away with nothing."

"Actually we can." Her jaw clenched in frustration, but he knew he was right. "Coach, I get what you're trying to do, and I appreciate it, but it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter what you or Schuester say, you didn't witness anything, and even if Finn, Sam, and Mike testify, it's still our word against there's. They're going to go with there's."

"You don't know that, Blaine," Mr. Schue said ardently. "They could believe-"

"They could, but they won't." Blaine interrupted him sharply. "They're three star football players, I'm a gay transfer student. This is Ohio, Mr. Schue. They're not going to care."

Mr. Schue sighed and stopped crouching in front of Blaine, walking a few steps away to talk to Mike and Sam. Kurt brushed his fingers through Blaine's soaked hair, brushing it behind his ear. "Are you sure you okay?"

Blaine nodded, toying with Kurt's fingers. "I'm okay. Pretty pissed, but okay. I'm sorry I'm late for your little playdate in the choir room."

Kurt rolled his eyes. "Please tell me you don't really care about that. It's just a song I wanted to sing with you."

Blaine's bloodshot eyes lit up. "A song? Kurt, I'd love to sing a song with you, can we still do that? I think it would make my week."

Kurt grinned at his excitement. "Of course we can." He assured him. "C'mon, I brought you some dry clothes, you want to change?"

Blaine hummed and took the bag of spare clothes from Kurt. "You are amazing. Tell me why you have this though?"

"In case of the occasional slushie," he answered airily.

"Okay, Blaine," Mr. Schue said to him suddenly. "I won't force you to talk to Mr. Figgins or anything, but you should know I will be talking to him." Blaine rolled his eyes and Mr. Schue turned to the rest of the kids and said, "Guys, you're dismissed, I'll see you all tomorrow."

They filtered out slowly, Mike and Sam staying behind to make sure Blaine was okay, Finn staying behind to tell Blaine not to try for revenge, firmly, but less firmly when Blaine's dark look reminded him of their last conversation involving Finn telling Blaine what to do. Coach Bieste was the last person in there besides Kurt and Blaine, and she handed Blaine the key to the locker room.

"Lock it up when you leave, I have to go." She said. "Leave the key on my office desk, okay, kid?" he nodded and she patted his wet shoulder before walking out of the locker room.

Kurt stood up and pulled Blaine up, rucking up his wet shirt to get it off of him. Blaine sort of smiled, feeling Kurt's warm hands glide up his clammy, cold torso. He pulled his shirt over his head. His curls weren't dry, but they were cold because of how chilled the locker room was. "Want to warm up before we go?" he asked, idly tracing down Blaine's chest to stomach.

Blaine raised his eyebrows at him, and Kurt pulled him back over to the showers, turning it on to a much warmer temperature than Karofsky had set it to. Blaine looked between Kurt and the shower, his eyebrows still raised. Kurt stepped out of his boots. "What are you doing?"

Kurt just grinned and stepped closer to the shower, pulling Blaine with him. "You want to take a shower? In our clothes?" he asked, getting a laugh from Kurt. "Kurt this is crazy. We don't have an infinite amount of dry clothes. This is probably very stupid."

Kurt stepped close to him, holding Blaine's shoulders. "Let's be stupid together." He murmured before letting go of him and stepping back into the shower, his mouth falling into an 'o' when the water hit his covered back. Blaine laughed and shook his head at him before following him in, his cold skin tingling when it was hit with the hot water.

Kurt looked really young, with his hair darkened and flopped onto his forehead, his clothes clinging to his skin. Blaine probably looked similarly ridiculous, both of them fully clothed apart from their shoes, but he didn't care. He was having fun. Even after being half drowned by a group of homophobic bullies, Kurt was able to make him feel better. He was able to make him happy. Kurt always made him happy. Blaine started to forget what it felt like to be that happy, but he was incredibly happy to be reminded.

It was weirdly romantic once they started kissing. It shouldn't have been, because they were showering in their clothes in the boy's locker room, and it kind of smelled like feet. But it was romantic because it was Kurt and Blaine, alone, being stupid and happy.

They didn't stay too long, because the janitors would probably be cleaning the halls soon, and they didn't really want to explain to them why they were both sopping wet after school. So they grabbed the dry clothes, neither of them bothering to change yet, just grabbing their things and running outside.

"Shit!" Kurt exclaimed as soon as they hit the parking lot. "It's fucking freezing!"

Blaine laughed and ran after Kurt to his car. "Hence why that was a really stupid idea," he retorted, seeing his breath in front of him. At least it wasn't snowing. They got inside Kurt's car, immediately turning the heat up all the way and catching their breath. Kurt looked at him and laughed. Blaine laughed too. He wasn't sure what Kurt was laughing at, he wasn't even sure what he was laughing at.

They got to Kurt's house a while later, pointedly ignoring Carole's inquiring look, grateful Burt wasn't there, because he definitely would've demanded some answers. They went up to Kurt's room and Blaine borrowed a pair of his pajamas, going into the hall bathroom to towel himself off and change into much warmer, more comfortable, and importantly, more dry clothes.

Kurt was fiddling with his stereo when he went back into his room. "Duet time?" he prompted, shutting the door gently behind him.

Kurt turned to him with a grin. "Duet time." he confirmed. "I'm sure you know this one," he murmured, pressing play.

Blaine listened tensely for a moment, waiting for recognizable chords when his mouth fell open. "This is my favorite Christmas song!" he exclaimed. Kurt grinned and Blaine cleared his throat as the lyrics got started.

_I really can't stay_ **but baby it's cold outside  
**  
_I've got to go away _**but baby, it's cold outside  
**  
_This evening has been…_ **been hoping that you'd drop in  
**  
_So very nice_ **I'll hold you hands, they're just like ice**

They danced around playfully while they sang, both of them knowing their parts to perfection. Kurt was so freaking cute when he was being flirtatious like this, and Blaine let himself go in the song, being goofy, and playful. He wished he could emphasize how adorable Kurt was, so he tried to pay special attention to lines like, "beautiful what's your hurry." He might've let his eyes fall down to Kurt's pouting lips a few times, but he couldn't be blamed, because Kurt was playing coy, like he didn't know exactly what he was doing to Blaine in that moment, and god that was irresistible. Plus, he was literally singing about Kurt's lips, it was practically impossible to not at least think about kissing them.

So when they sang together the last _But baby it's cold outside_, Blaine immediately fell on the bed, pulling Kurt with him and kissing him sweetly, smiling into his lips.

It totally sucked he was leaving for basically his entire winter break, because he could just imagine how amazing it would be to go ice skating, and get hot chocolate, and sing, and be stupid with Kurt for a week straight. He knew it was irrational, but he couldn't stop thinking about how, this would be the first time they'd be apart for a while since they met, and what if, by some insane thing, Kurt just lost interest in him.

Blaine decided then, while he was kissing Kurt on his bed, his senses engulfed by Kurt's scent, he definitely had something else he needed to get Kurt, and he had an idea of what he wanted it to be.

**?!**

"Hey," Blaine said when Kurt opened his front door.

"Hi." There was a bit of melancholia in his tone, but he still smiled. It was Blaine's last day before he left for the Bahamas where there would be limited to no wifi, and insane texting rates. Kurt had woken up a few hours ago, but he was still in his pajamas with his hair flopped onto his forehead, because he was pouting about Blaine's soon departure so he didn't care about looking great. Besides, it was Christmas break, he didn't have to dress to impress inside his own house.

Blaine walked into the house and said, "Okay, you need to get dressed, and dress warm, and comfortably." He hadn't actually told Kurt what their plans for the day included and Kurt was very curious.

He didn't bother questioning Blaine, knowing he wouldn't answer. "Okay, you can wait in the living room, Finn's in there watching cartoons. I'll go get dressed."

Blaine nodded and pecked Kurt's cheek before walking into the living room. Kurt went back up to his room lazily, hearing Finn's and Blaine's muted greetings. Warmly and comfortably. He knew it was cold and possibly going to snow, so obviously he needed to dress warmly, but what were they going to do that required him to dress comfortably?

He remembered Blaine was wearing jeans so he grabbed a looser pair from his drawer and pulled them on with a very warm, plain black sweater. He laced up his docs along with the outfit and took only a few minutes on his hair, pulling on his black and gray bomber hat as part of the 'warm' advice.

He went back downstairs pocketing his phone and found Blaine and Finn sitting together on the couch, watching an old episode of Saved by the Bell, Finn simultaneously stuffing his mouth with spoonfuls of cereal. Kurt gestured for Blaine to join him, and he quickly said his goodbye to Finn before helping Kurt pull on his pea coat and leading him outside to an unfamiliar car.

"Whose is this?" Kurt inquired as Blaine opened the passenger door for him.

"John's, actually. He and Mary are doing some last minute groceries with the kids, they told me I could take it." He answered, pulling out of the Hummel-Hudson driveway and turning on the radio. He glanced over at Kurt and said, "I like your hat."

Kurt smiled and responded, "Thanks," he appraised Blaine's outfit, seeing a dark green sweater underneath his unbuttoned peacoat and a red scarf around his neck. Something he really appreciated about Blaine that came as a surprise, was his fashion sense. It wasn't as flamboyant as Kurt's, not even close, but he had at least a fundamental understanding to not mix certain colors and wear two different patterns together.

"So do you want to tell me where we're going?" he asked airily.

"Nope," Blaine responded, popping his 'p' and grinning at Kurt. Kurt slumped in his seat and waited for their arrival, which was the park a few streets over from the elementary school he went to.

He looked over at Blaine when he cut the engine and unbuckled. "The park?"

Blaine just grinned at him and got out of the car. Kurt followed him over to where many people were, standing around with steaming mugs or skating on the frozen over lake. Kurt shot Blaine a look that told him plainly, he wasn't impressed.

"Is it even safe to skate on that?" he asked skeptically.

Blaine grabbed Kurt around the waist and said, "Yes, it's very safe, they're even renting out skates." He pouted at Kurt, looking at him from under his eyelashes. "Give it a shot?"

Kurt worked to keep the grin off his face, but couldn't, because Blaine's puppy dog eyes were his kryptonite. "Alright, but I've suck at ice skating."

"That's okay," Blaine said, dropping the pout and smiling at him. "I'll teach you."

He dragged Kurt out of the parking lot and towards the frozen pond to get skates. Blaine insisted on paying for both of them, and Kurt didn't argue because it was only three dollars. And he pulled him onto the ice. It took a few minutes for Kurt to really get his footing, and even when he did, he stilled slipped and nearly fell every minute or so. Blaine was a competent skater to say the least, skating backwards in front of Kurt so he could hold his hands and brace his falls.

It worked really well, until Kurt stumbled on a divot in the ice and fell forward and Blaine only noticed in time to fall down with him. Admittedly, it hurt and he smacked his elbow pretty hard on the ice, but worse things have happened to him than falling on top of an attractive boy who really enjoyed kissing him. Blaine was able to sneak in a few kisses before Kurt was able to stand up and when he finally did, they started skating again, this time side by side. He latched onto Blaine's hand pretty soon after they'd started just to help keep him up and Blaine laced their fingers together. Even though Kurt's fingers were freezing without gloves, he really liked being able to hold Blaine's hand while they ice skated.

When they got off the ice, Kurt stuffed his hands into his pockets to warm them up and headed towards the car, but Blaine tugged him toward a small hot chocolate stand. They got their drinks and sat in Blaine's car with the heat on to try and warm up, since at one point during their skating it had started snowing. Blaine pulled off his snow soaked beanie and Kurt pulled up the collar of his coat.

"I should've worn a scarf." He murmured, rubbing his hands together.

"Oh!" Blaine exclaimed. "That reminds me!" he turned and climbed onto the aisle between the two front seats and started digging around the back seat. Kurt waited patiently with the perfect view of Blaine's ass right near his face to pass the time. Blaine sat back down in his seat and handed Kurt a gift bag with red and green tissue paper poking out of the top.

Kurt accepted the gift and looked up at Blaine with a shocked sort of smile on his face. "Christmas present." Blaine explained. "I saw them at the store and thought of you."

Kurt felt his face warm up just at the thought of Blaine thinking about him when they're not together and he gingerly picked out the tissue paper. He reached into the bag without taking his eyes off of Blaine. He looked down when he felt fabric and lifted out of the bag a Burberry scarf.

"Is this real Burberry?" he asked incredulously. Blaine nodded with a proud grin and Kurt asked quickly, "God, Blaine, how much did this cost you?"

Blaine just brushed it off, "Don't worry about it, it was on sale." He said and Kurt launched himself over to Blaine's side of the car and kissed him on the lips, hoping to transfer all of the gratefulness and happiness and tenderness he was feeling into the kiss, just careful enough to not spill his very hot drink.

Blaine let Kurt kiss him a few more times before he pulled back and said, "There's something else in the bag." Kurt dug back into the bag eagerly, pulling out a small, black velvet box. Blaine took it from his fingers and opened it for him, facing it towards Kurt. Inside was a silver ring, a shining metallic. Kurt took it out of the box and looked more closely at it, his breath halting. On the inside of the ring was a small engraving that he almost didn't notice that read, K &amp; B.

He looked up at Blaine with wide eyes filled with excitement. "What is this?"

Blaine licked his lips and looked down at the ring, taking it between his fingers and toying with it. "It's a ring, nothing too fancy. I just, um," he looked up at Kurt again, searching his eyes and answering, "I like the idea of you wearing something that'll make you think of me. And to remind you that I'll be thinking of you."

Kurt could feel his eyes prickling with tears and he held out his middle finger for Blaine to slide the ring on. Blaine was making a habit of doing these entirely endearing things that was making Kurt want to cry, and it was seriously becoming a problem. He leaned over again and hugged Blaine tightly. He knew they were being a little dramatic, given that it was only for vacation they'd be apart, but it'd feel like a lot longer because they wouldn't even have breaks for school to make it feel less long. This gift though, he knew, was meant for more than just Christmas break.

"I have your present at home." He murmured into the warm skin of Blaine's neck where he'd chosen to duck his face into. One thing he'd really miss was how Blaine smelled, because that was hard to duplicate.

Blaine pulled back and said, "You didn't have to get me anything," Kurt just shrugged.

"It's not anything big," he responded.

Blaine stared at him for a moment with a fond expression and said, "So I was planning on taking you out for dinner, but I'm starting to think tonight's more of an order-in kind of night. What do you think?"

"That sounds perfect." Kurt said. "We can order pizza and curl up in front of the fireplace."

Blaine hummed to himself. "That sounds amazing. You want to call ahead?" he asked as he pulled out of the parking lot and started towards Kurt's house again. Something that worked out wonderfully, was Blaine didn't eat pizzas with disgusting topping like anchovies, or mushrooms, the weirdest he ate was Hawaiian, and that was only occasional. But when they were together like this, they could order a single half cheese/half pepperoni pizza and they were both happy.

When they got back to Kurt's house no one else was home. He and Blaine were planning on going out, so it made sense that he made plans with Finn and Carole for while they were gone. "Where is everyone?" Blaine asked as he stepped out of his boots.

"Dinner, probably." He said. "Speaking of, the pizza should be here in ten. I'm just going to run upstairs and throw on some pajamas, do you want something less wet?"

"That would be great." Blaine responded, shivering a little once he was out of his coat. "I'll start a fire."

After warning him that it was a gas fire, Kurt ran upstairs and peeled off his wet jeans and sweater before pulling on dry underwear and his fuzzy two piece pajama set, which was arguably the most comfortable thing he owned. He pulled out sweatpants for Blaine and a simple pajama shirt to wear with it. He debated with himself for a moment about getting underwear for Blaine, because it wasn't like any of Blaine's were at his house, Blaine would probably appreciate wearing new underwear. He grabbed a pair from his drawer and put them with Blaine's clothes, grabbing his dirty laundry as well. He went back downstairs and found Blaine sitting in front of the now flaming fireplace.

"For you," he said, handing the clothes to Blaine.

He accepted them and looked at the pile, grinning and all but moaning, "Boxer briefs? You are the best." He pecked Kurt's lips and went into the bathroom to change. Kurt kneeled in front of the fire for a minute before there was a knock on the door.

He hurried over, snagging his wallet off the dining room table and opened the door for what looked like a freezing pizza delivery boy. He paid for the pizza and gave the poor kid a tip, and just as he shut the door, Blaine walked out. He'd clearly rubbed a towel over his head to dry his hair, and his curls were loose and puffy and looked like bed-head in the cutest possible way.

"Aw, no, did you pay for pizza?" he asked, walking over to Kurt. Kurt nodded slowly, confusion taking up his face. "Damn, tonight's my big romantic gesture before I leave for a week, you can't be paying for it."

Kurt just laughed and took Blaine's cold hand and pulled him into the other room. "Well you paid for skates and hot chocolate, so it's basically evened out now."

Kurt opened the hallway closet door and pulled out his favorite thick blanket for them. They sat down on the couch closest to the fire and started eating dinner even though they forgot to get plates. Even if Blaine was going for a big romantic gesture, Kurt was still definitely satisfied. It wasn't flowers and chocolates and fancy dinner reservations, but he loved it.

Kurt ate until he felt bloated and leaned on Blaine's shoulder as the latter finished eating. Blaine threw his crust into the empty box and adjusted himself on the couch, sprawling out so he took up the whole couch. "Going to leave any room for me?" Kurt asked.

Blaine just smiled and patted his own chest. Kurt grabbed the blanket and wrapped it around himself and laid on top of Blaine. Blaine held him around the waist and kissed the tip of Kurt's nose. He inched himself higher on Blaine and leaned on his chest, propping himself up so they could look at each other.

"Do you remember a while ago, after our first date, when I said I wasn't sure what I wanted us to be?" Blaine hummed in affirmation. "I haven't totally decided yet, but I was thinking, that maybe… you'd want to be something?"

"An official or unofficial something?" Blaine prompted.

He shrugged. "Maybe we could be an unofficial something, but something officially?" he suggested slowly. Blaine laughed and Kurt could feel the vibrations. "Does that sound good to you?" Blaine nodded and nudged his nose against Kurt's

"Kiss me." Blaine said, looking at Kurt with those big, stupid, gorgeous eyes. Kurt complied without hesitation, leaning down and pressing his lips to Blaine's. He kissed him softly a few times before deepening their kisses, licking his way into Blaine's mouth, parting his lips with a sigh. Blaine's hands traveled closer to Kurt's ass, hesitating and waiting for permission. Kurt's legs clamped around Blaine, spreading further apart and he nodded to Blaine, pressing kisses to the corner of his mouth and down his neck. Blaine squeezed his ass, greedily taking his lips again for a hungry kiss as he worked his palms into Kurt's ass cheeks.

Kurt moaned into his mouth, his erection getting more obvious. He grabbed Blaine's hands off his ass and pulled them above Blaine's head, pinning down his wrists. Blaine opened his mouth wider for Kurt to push his tongue in further, pressing Blaine's wrists into the armrest above him, dropping his hips and slowly grinding himself against him, dragging himself against Blaine's cotton sweatpants, feeling quite firmly, Blaine's cock against his, just four layers of thin, soft cotton between them. Blaine groaned and lifted his hips off the couch, meeting Kurt's thrusts.

Kurt let go of Blaine's hands and buried his own in Blaine's dark curls, tugging on them and tangling up his fingers. He seated himself more comfortably in Blaine's lap, sitting on him more than laying on him and grinding down hard, the blanket falling off his shoulders and pooling at his waist. Blaine was sucking hard on Kurt's lower lip, granting him the opportunity to pay attention to Blaine's upper lip, sliding his tongue along Blaine's pearly teeth.

"Kurt," Blaine panted against the boy's hungry lips. Kurt kissed down to Blaine's clavicle and Blaine asked breathlessly, "Babe, you think we should cool off? If your family went out to dinner, they should be back soon, and I don't want them walking in me with a massive boner and hickeys all over me."

"Sounds pretty hot though, doesn't it?" Kurt panted against his neck, grinning into the expanse of Blaine's hot skin.

"Totally hot," he assured him. "But not for them."

Kurt breathed, his nose pressed against Blaine's collarbone. "Okay," he said after a long moment. "I'm going to go get your Christmas present."

"That sounds great," Blaine grinned. "I think I'm just going to use your bathroom."

Kurt climbed off of Blaine and let him awkwardly walk to the bathroom, a clear bulge in his sweats, grinning at Kurt when he looked back and saw him watching him. Kurt went upstairs, and first relieved the situation in the front of his jeans. He went into his room, reaching under his bed to grab the small box he'd wrapped up for Blaine, weighing it in his hands for a minute with a disgruntled expression.

Blaine's gift to him was perfectly in the middle of platonic and romantic, just like them. His gift was on the same spectrum, though dangerously close to the romantic side. Of course, Blaine didn't know the half of the romantic side, it was probably still questionable. God, he should probably just put his gift back under his bed and grab him a sweater he hasn't taken the tag off of or something.

_Kurt, you're being ridiculous_, his head voice told him. First of all, you don't have a sweater you haven't taken the tag off of. Besides, Blaine is downstairs getting himself off because of how hot your last make out session was. He could accept a necklace shaped like a heart.

He grabbed his box and headed back downstairs, avidly aware of his own necklace, thudding against his chest as he made his way back down the stairs. Blaine was back on the couch, sprawled out again, his eyes closed, leaning against the armrest.

"Sleepy?" he asked. Blaine lifted his head and turned to him with a smile, sitting up so Kurt could sit with him. He held the box out to Blaine who accepted it eagerly, tearing open the wrapping paper with a surprising amount of gentleness.

He saw the plain black box and glanced at Kurt for a second before slowly lifting the lid. He gingerly took out the necklace, holding it up to his face without a word. Kurt counted three long seconds in his head without Blaine reacting and panicked.

"I can return it if you don't like it," not true. "It was kind of a stupid idea anyways, it's fine if you don't want it-" Blaine grabbed the back of Kurt's neck, cutting him off his rambling with a tender kiss.

His gold eyes were especially bright and filled with warmth. "It's not stupid," he assured Kurt. "I love it."

A grin slowly took up Kurt's face. "Really?" he asked quietly. Blaine nodded with a big, dopey smile.

"Really. Help me put it on?" he handed the locket to Kurt and turned so he could put it on. Kurt's hands were shaking as he tried to do the clasp, his nervousness mixing with joy and just a splash of adrenaline.

Once the necklace was securely around his neck, Blaine lifted the charm and pressed it to his lips, smiling at Kurt while he did. He let the necklace fall onto his chest again and said, "Want to lay down again?"

"That sounds perfect." Kurt said. He got up to let Blaine situate himself before climbing back on top of him, tugging the blanket around them. Blaine wrapped his arms around Kurt, resting them on the small of his back. Neither of them spoke. With all that happened that day, there was little to say that could've made it better. Even though Blaine was leaving in the morning to fly out to Florida to be stuck on a boat for a week, their last day together was perfect. And he still had New Year's to look forward to as a sort of landmark for Blaine's return, he didn't feel like moping anymore, especially when he was wrapped up in Blaine's warm embrace in front of a dying fire. He was tired too. He snuggled into Blaine's arms, nuzzling his cheek onto Blaine's chest and let himself fall asleep, engulfed by the smell of warmth, and pizza, and Blaine's cologne.

?!

"Blaine," he felt himself be shaken awake. Well, more like patted awake. He opened his eyes blearily and saw Kurt's step-mom in front of him in the mostly dark living room, the only the light coming from the TV and illuminating her face. "Your aunt just called; it's nearly eleven, she wants you home to double check all of your things are packed."

Blaine started blinking himself awake. Aunt. Eleven. Home. Packed. He looked at Mrs. Hudson again as coherency slowly started to come over him. He was going on a plane to go on a cruise in the morning. It was almost eleven, Mary wanted him home. He glanced at himself and saw Kurt laying on him, his arms wound around Blaine's middle.

"Okay," he responded hoarsely.

Carole smiled at him and handed him his cell phone. She must've answered for him. It was weird he didn't wake up. Or wake up to the sound of the late night show Burt and Finn were watching on TV just a few feet away, or even just the sounds of them getting home.

He combed his fingers through Kurt's soft hair and murmured close to his ear, "Kurt, honey, you have to get up." Kurt just groaned something unintelligible into his shirt. "I have to go home, so you have to get off of me."

Kurt grumbled again but lifted himself off of Blaine anyways, slowly sitting up and letting Blaine reclaim his legs. "Mary wants me back to make sure everything's all packed up for tomorrow." He explained.

Kurt moaned vaguely to show his understand for Blaine's words. Blaine glanced up at his unruly locks and grinned. "Nice bedhead."

Kurt half heartedly covered his hair with his hands, his eyes still only half open. "Don't look at it." He mumbled.

"It's adorable." Blaine assured him, getting off the couch. Kurt laid back down and Blaine kneeled on the floor space in front of him so he could still make eye contact with him. "If you're going back to sleep, I'd suggest maybe in your bed?"

Kurt's eyes were open just a sliver. "Shut up." He muttered shortly, his voice thick with sleep. Blaine laughed under his breath and pecked Kurt on the lips.

"I'll text you in the morning, 'kay?"

"'Kay." Kurt responded, reaching his heavy arm out and playing with Blaine's locket for a second with the ghost of a smile before letting it fall back onto his chest. "Have fun." He murmured.

Blaine smiled and squeezed Kurt's hand before standing up, waving goodbye to Kurt's family and leaving, one of his hands playing with his locket as he drove home. 


	9. I'm Never Changing Who I am

**Please please review! **

**?!**

Kurt woke up the next morning on the couch, his phone vibrating next to his face. He groaned and opened his eyes, rubbing them as he sat up. It was Christmas Eve. The tree had been plugged in, the fire was blazing, Finn was watching _Home Alone_, and the house smelled like cookies.

"Hey, you're awake!" Finn said cheerily, dressed in festive, Christmas tree patterned pajamas. He gestured towards Macaulay Culkin on screen. "There's a marathon on today if you wanna watch with me."

"Maybe," Kurt said, looking at his phone. Blaine texted him! He eagerly opened up the message.

**Was woken up at six this morning so we could leave for the airport at eight for our flight at ten, all so we could open presents before we left, and give time for b&amp;r to repack which toys they're bringing on vacation.  
**  
Kurt grinned at the screen, not necessarily because of what it said, but because Blaine wasn't on a plane yet, he could talk to him. But only until ten, when his plane left.

_Poor baby. What did you get for Christmas?  
_  
**Oh, yay, you're awake! I was worried you'd be asleep until my flight. Also, do not patronize me, Hummel. I got a few sweaters, a coat, a couple books, and tickets to see Evita when it comes to Columbus in January.  
**  
_What?! Oh my god, I'm so jealous._

**Why? You're coming with me, dummy.**

Kurt bit down on his lip really, really hard to keep from squealing, his grin obnoxiously wide and ridiculous. A small sound escaped and apparently Finn heard it, and he looked over at Kurt and almost laughed when he saw him. "What? You look like you're about to pee yourself." Kurt just shook his head at him; there was no way Finn would understand.

_Oh my god, I love you so mu_

Kurt stopped typing and didn't hit send. He erased the message slowly. That would be a completely acceptable way to talk to Mercedes, one of his best friends, but not Blaine, who probably _was_ his best friend. Blaine was just a little_ too _good a friend to say I love you to.

_You are amazing. I cannot believe you. Thanks for making my gift feel insufficient._

**I loved your gift!  
**  
Kurt laughed to himself and kept texting Blaine, talking about yesterday and today and tomorrow. Kurt wished he'd woken up sooner so they'd have more time to talk, because Blaine was already through security, about to board his flight.

**I'll try and talk to you as soon as I can, but I have to go. Merry Christmas, Kurt, I'll see you soon, I promise! You'll barely even notice I was gone**.

_Bye, Blaine, merry Christmas. I'll miss you._

He_ s_ent the message before he could erase that last bit. He would miss Blaine. There shouldn't be any shame in admitting that. He still wished he could take it back though, at least until Blaine said it first. Blaine didn't respond for a minute and Kurt started freaking out in his head. What if he didn't get his last message and thought Kurt didn't respond. He could've lost service after he read it and couldn't respond to return the sentiment. But what if he's choosing not to respond after reading the message because he thought it weird for Kurt to say that?

Kurt's phone buzzed in his hand and he saw Blaine responded. He opened his message, cursing his phone for not loading it immediately, his hands practically shaking in anticipation because of how much he freaked himself out.

**I'll miss you too. But at least now I have this gorgeous necklace to remind me of the gorgeous boy waiting for me back home.  
**  
Kurt blushed deeply, feeling it up to his roots. Before he could fully process that message, another came in.

**Ben's sitting with me and says merry Christmas. I really have to go, the plane's about to take off, but I'll see you soon. Bye, sweetheart.**

?!

Kurt decided right off the bat he wasn't going to let Blaine's absence bother him. The first day he spent with Finn, turning off his phone, and stuffing themselves with cookies and watching their favorite Christmas movies. His dad and stepmom joined them at some point, and after they had a nice family dinner all together, they each opened a single present, as was the Hudson family's tradition every Christmas Eve. Kurt opened one from his dad, a Marc Jacobs sweater he'd been fawning over for months.

The next day it was easy to distract himself; it was Christmas! He sent out a quick text to his closest friends, not including Blaine, to wish them a merry Christmas, and it was all too easy to get his mind off of Blaine with presents, and stockings, and having every single member of his new and old family over for dinner.

The next few days he forced himself to be productive; he cleaned and reorganized his bedroom, he did all the homework that was assigned to him for break, and he spent time with his friends. He had lunch with Quinn, and he went shopping with Mercedes and Tina, and he went to a small get together at Lauren's house for Christmas and got a knit beanie from their Yankee swap. He even played video games with Finn and the boys for hours.

He was mentally exhausted from exerting that much of his attention and energy on his friends and family, and he decided to spend all of New Year's Eve in bed, napping, sipping cocoa and eating leftover sweets. He needed to relax at least once over vacation, so he gave his house a strict, _no bothering Kurt today_ policy that was actually followed. He also gave up on the whole, refusing to think about Blaine at all thing, too. It wasn't like he was sobbing because it'd been a whole week apart or anything absurd, but he should've been allowed to miss him at least a little. So he spent a lot of his day in one of Blaine's sweaters, twisting the ring on his finger, and looking through photos he had of the two of them on his phone, and just thinking about him. Nothing weird, or needy, or stalkerish, just what they should do when Blaine got back in town, and how much he wanted to kiss him, and how soft Blaine's lips were. Normal stuff.

He finally left his room at eight, for Puck's New Year's party. He didn't want to go, but that's where Blaine would be, assuming he got back to Lima at all tonight. Besides, he probably should get out of the house on New Year's, and he knew Mercedes was dying to have him there.

The party, as expected, was not much fun for him. There was a lot of booze and a lot of people getting high in the backyard, and while that might've been Puck's idea of a good time, it definitely wasn't his. So he spent most of his time there with Mercedes, waiting for the stupid party to be over so he could get some breakfast food. Until it neared midnight and he started looking around for Blaine to suddenly appear, checking his phone every five seconds to be sure he hadn't missed a message. It was so much easier last New Year's, when he didn't have a sort-of-boyfriend, and he wasn't attending parties.

And so, he waited.

**?!**

11:47. That was the time it was when Blaine finally (_finally!_) got home, and he immediately grabbed the keys to his aunt's car, and after telling Mary where he was going, he left without a second glance. He just wished for the day spring finally rolled around, and the roads wouldn't be so crappy that he can't ride his bike.

He hurried to Puck's place, where a party was raging inside plus a dozen people on the front yard, dancing and drinking. If the cops busted this party, they'd be in so much trouble. He hurried inside, pushing his way through people, searching blindly around the room. He tried calling Kurt on his phone, but he couldn't hear him, he just hoped Kurt took it as a signal for him being there.

He wanted to kiss Kurt at midnight. More than anything he wanted for Christmas, he wanted to kiss Kurt on New Year's, because it was high school, it was the time for new experiences, and he wanted to experience _so much_ with Kurt.

He ran through room to room, asking people he knew, like Quinn and Sam, where Kurt was, if he was even there. Sam directed him into the family room where the TV was blasting Dick Clarks' New Year's Rockin' Eve. The room was tight packed and there was only one light on, how in god's name was he supposed to find Kurt in this cramped clutter of people? Crap, they were starting the sixty second countdown. Crap, crap, crap, crap, crap. He pushed past people who huffed at him for it, most of the room already clasped onto another person to kiss.

Blaine stood found Puck, holding Lauren's waist, a solo cup in hand. "Dude, have you seen Kurt?" he nearly shouted over the music. He tried to sound cavalier, like he _wasn't_ about to make out with Kurt, but it didn't really work.

"He's over by the back doors!" Puck yelled back, gesturing across the room.

Blaine ran across as quickly as he could, stepping on several people's feet, pushing people blindly as the time hit twenty seconds.

Finally, he got over and grabbed Kurt's elbow, who turned to him and his expression of boredom and disappointment shifted to that of disbelief. "Blaine?" he said squinting in the darkness before throwing his arms around Blaine's shoulders. "I can't believe you're here, I thought for sure you wouldn't make it back in time!"

Blaine hugged him and gestured to the sliding door behind them that led to the deck. Kurt opened the door and led them out to the considerably less crowded deck, claimed mostly by chain smokers, as the ten second countdown started. "Wouldn't miss this for the world." He said, wrapping his arms around Kurt. "Five,"

"Four," Kurt continued, pulling Blaine so they were barely an inch apart.

"Three," Blaine breathed along with the half-drunken crowd inside who were nearly screaming.

"Two," Kurt said, his heart beating hard in anticipation.

"One." They said in unison, not hesitating before connecting their lips.

Screams and shouts and champagne bottles roared all together, and Blaine was starting to understand the appeal to romance. There was so much noise and so many flashing lights but it didn't take away, because he was kissing Kurt on New Year's Eve after he'd been gone for more than a week. He missed Kurt so much, and Kurt had been waiting for him, and Kurt was _such_ a good kisser. That's when the fireworks started going off.

Kurt jumped back, startled, and they both looked over, just over the neighbor's houses where the fireworks coming from the stadium a few blocks over. People from inside the house shuffled outside to see the fireworks. Blaine wrapped his arms around Kurt, holding him close to his chest, pressing a kiss onto his forehead as the fireworks got larger and more elaborate.

After a minute, Kurt pulled back and said, "Come with me."

Blaine followed him curiously into the nearly empty house and upstairs, where Kurt opened a bedroom door, and pulled Blaine out onto the balcony. But he didn't stop. He climbed onto the window and pulled himself onto the roof. Blaine made sure to spot him, appreciating the great view of Kurt's ass before climbing up after him.

"I like the way you think." He murmured, seeing the blanket and pillows set up on the flat surface of the roof.

He laid down beside Kurt, propped up on the pillow with a perfect view of the firework show. Kurt laid his head on Blaine's chest and Blaine brushed through Kurt's hair. It was so familiar, and just getting back to Ohio, Blaine could use something a little familiar. Everything with Kurt was so familiar, so easy. A few minutes in, Kurt twisted up to look at Blaine with a goofy grin, and started kissing him again.

They missed a good portion of the roughly twenty minute long firework show, but he didn't care. He loved kissing Kurt, and he missed it. It was a little different than usual though. Their kisses were much needier, and involved a lot more tongue too, but Blaine figured it was just because they missed each other. Also, there was something about kissing, that even though it was a completely arbitrary thing, it was almost addictive. You get in tune with frequent kissing, and there's no way you want to stop.

Blaine was grinding slowly against Kurt, kissing him sweetly, the two of them reacquainting themselves with each other's lips. It was smooth, and languid, and so sweet. Blaine _missed_ Kurt. He missed him in every way; he missed kissing him, he missed holding him, he missed seeing his face, _god _he missed how his lips taste. The firework show finished, but they stayed on the roof for a while, kissing and holding each other and smiling and laughing.

Blaine pulled back once the cold started to become too much, and he kissed Kurt on the nose. "I am so crazy about you." he murmured, kissing him again. And again. And again.

They finally climbed off the roof when Kurt got a phonecall from Mercedes, telling him that everyone was leaving for Denny's.

"So, do you have any plans tonight?" Kurt asked as Blaine shut the balcony doors after climbing back into through the bedroom window.

"Uh, seeing as it's midnight, I'd say no." Blaine said with a chuckle.

Kurt shoved his shoulder playfully. "Well, some of our friends are going to Denny's if you'd like to join us."

"Well, as much as I love shitty breakfast food at all hours of the day, I'm not sure I can go anywhere with you right now without ripping your clothes off," Blaine murmured in Kurt's ear, sending a shiver down Kurt's spine.

Kurt's cheeks turned pink and Blaine brushed his thumb over it. "I missed your blush." he pecked Kurt's cheek and held his hand. "I'm kidding sweetie, I'd love to. I wasn't kidding about the clothes thing though. I haven't seen you in a week, I start to get attuned. Not to mention, you're wearing my clothes," he said, gazing at Kurt's chest, accentuated perfectly in Blaine's sweater. "Which I think is definitely on its way to becoming a kink for me."

"Well," Kurt said, running his fingers down Blaine's chest. "I'm free tomorrow – or later today, so maybe you could come over and we can catch up?"

Blaine grinned and said, "You know me so well."

Kurt giggled and said, "I missed you."

Blaine smiled sweetly, ducking his head and holding Kurt's hands tighter. "I missed you too." He mumbled before taking Kurt's lips in his own again, pulling Kurt's bottom lip between his. Kurt pulled back smiling. "Let's pause for a little, okay? Our friends are waiting for us."

Blaine grinned and pecked his lips before he followed him downstairs to where Mercedes was waiting. She grinned at them and pulled Blaine in for a hug. Blaine hugged her back but glanced at Kurt with wide eyes. Affection from someone other than Kurt was still pretty unfamiliar to him.

"Nice to see you, white boy," she said before pulling back and looking at him again. "Well, sort of white boy."

Blaine laughed and Kurt said to them, "C'mon, everyone else already left."

They walked out to the cars and Mercedes got in with Kurt, Blaine took Mary's van and they first went to Blaine's house to bring the car back before he joined them in Kurt's car and drove to Denny's.

Their friends were already there; everyone from the glee club. Blaine wondered if he hadn't found Kurt, who at McKinley he'd be friends with, because he hates almost everyone at that school. But the glee club guys were pretty cool people, generally speaking.

Kurt sat down at patted the chair beside him for Blaine to sit, and he smiled and sat down, Puck on his other side. "Oh, I get it," Puck said to him, turning away from his conversation with Finn. "You only come in time for macking it at midnight and Denny's."

"I just got back!" Blaine argued before Sam called his attention.

"Where did you go, man? You're wicked dark now." Blaine glanced at his arms. He'd gotten tan after spending a week outside on a boat chasing around a pair of little kids. Before he actually answered, a waitress came over with a few drinks, taking orders for more.

It took a good ten minutes for her to take down their orders, given that several people were trying to talk at once and others hadn't even opened their menus yet. When they all got their orders in, they started talking again. Apparently the talk was about Regionals.

"I don't care what Mr. Schue says, we should do what we did at sectionals." Santana was saying to anyone who was listening.

Rachel rolled her eyes. "The only way we will win is I have a solo."

"Shut up, dwarf." Santana retorted nastily. Of course, that led into the two girls arguing over which of them deserved a solo more. Blaine tuned out for a while and paid attention to Kurt. Kurt's right hand was sitting on the table and Blaine brushed his thumb over it as he realized Kurt was wearing the ring he got him.

Kurt smiled at him when he realized what had captured Blaine's attention. "I haven't taken it off since you put it on."

Blaine's hand plunged into the collar of his shirt and he fumbled for a second before he pulled out his necklace. "I haven't either, I started getting a tan line from this."

Kurt laughed and played with his ring. "Well, I did think about you a lot."

Blaine smiled and scratched the back of his neck. "Me too. I really missed you." He muttered, taking a sip out of Kurt's water.

"Hey!" Kurt said, claiming his drink.

"Don't 'hey' me, mister, I didn't even get a drink." He said playfully, his grin eating up his face.

Other people had to notice when his smile got all big and toothy and dorky like this, and Blaine usually made more of an effort to hide it, but he finally seeing Kurt again after a week with two seven year olds and John, he was going to smile as much as he damn well liked.

"Blaine!" Someone called. He turned from Kurt and saw Tina, half sitting on Mike, looking at him. "How was your vacation?"

He shrugged. "Could've been worse; I mostly only babysat, I had to spend time with my uncle, which is always a blast," he rolled his eyes. "Honestly, I'd rather have been in Lima."

Tina's brow furrowed. "What's wrong with your uncle?" she asked, leaning on his elbows to talk to Blaine, Puck and Finn between them having their own conversation.

"A lot." Blaine said sardonically. Tina raised an eyebrow at him and he shrugged. "He's homophobic, and he hated my dad, therefore he hates me," he patted her hand with a sarcastic chuckle. "Just men being men."

"Why did he hate your dad?" she asked curiously.

"Everyone hated my dad." He said shortly. Tina gave that look again for more explanation and Blaine sighed as he answered. "He was just a bad guy, Tina. He was a drunk, he was abusive, he was a flake, he was an asshole."

She nodded slowly. "You hated your dad too." She surmised. Blaine nodded and she asked, "Can I ask why? I mean, more specifically?"

"Same reasons as everyone else…" Tina nodded slowly and was going to stop pushing it, but Blaine wanted to tell her the truth. "He hated me first," he started, grabbing her attention again. "I'm an only child, he didn't want me, he blamed my mom getting pregnant with me the reason his rock and roll career could never take off." He rolled his eyes again. "So he resented me for most of my childhood. And growing up with him just sucked. He warped my view of the world for a few years, quite honestly. He and my mom were the only adults I encountered, I thought that marriage just sucked for everyone, and it followed their pattern; kid messes up, dad gets pissed, takes it out on kid. Or the alternative, kid messes up, dad gets pissed, and takes it out on mom."

He shrugged nonchalantly. He saw the look of poorly concealed horror on Tina's face and almost felt bad. But he wasn't really doing it for Tina, he thinks he was doing it for himself. "I thought that was normal, 'cause I wasn't allowed to have friends, so I was never told otherwise, mom's friends never came over, he didn't have any except his drinking buddies who were exactly the same as him. All he did was drink and smoke and boss my mom around – and that was on a good day."

Tina shook her head slowly, she didn't seem like she knew she was doing it either. "Blaine, that's horrible."

"Well, if you ever wondered why I'm horrible," Blaine teased with a shit eating grin.

Tina shook her head more firmly. "You're not horrible. Not at all." She said. "I'm so sorry you had to go through that, it's awful that anyone should."

"Well, it's not all bad," he said. "To follow the cliché, it definitely made me stronger." Tina didn't look at all comforted. "I'm serious; I was that kid who, if you took his lunch, would start packing two just so he could give you one." She laughed and Blaine felt Kurt take his hand under the table.

Kurt was watching Mercedes talk, but Blaine didn't think he knew what she was talking about. He hadn't considered that Kurt might've been listening to his conversation, but he was glad he did it discreetly so he wouldn't call any more attention to it.

Puck and Finn though, seemed less concerned with acting like they weren't eavesdropping. To be fair, Blaine and Tina were talking over them, but still. "What happened?" Finn asked. Blaine raised his eyebrows at him and he explained, "I mean, that was when you were little, what happened after that?"

"Oh," Blaine hadn't thought about it in a while. He preferred to think about a lot of things never happening, it was just easier. "Well, my teachers at school started noticing bruises, so I was sent to my guidance counselor for him to ask, _Blaine, have your parents ever hit you? _and whatever else. Before anyone really did anything about it though, I was shipped off to boarding school."

He missed boarding school. He wouldn't want to leave McKinley for it now, but he did miss it. It was the first time he'd ever been away from home for longer than a sleepover, it was almost like Christmas came early, except that he saw his mom less and less.

"Then I had to go home when my mom was diagnosed, my dad divorced her and took off, and I think you're all caught up after that." He finished simply. He didn't like going into detail once he got to the part about his mom getting sick, it was still too new, and he hadn't told anyone, not even Kurt, all the details.

Kurt squeezed his hand. Blaine smiled and looked at Kurt from under his eyelashes and felt his face get hot. Kurt was so good for him. God, he was _really _falling for him. It was getting really hard to deny. And everyday it felt like it was getting closer and closer to _love_ and John finding _out_ and it was fucking terrifying.

Blaine remembered the day well, almost every detail perfectly. It was two days after his mom died. He spent a day after the funeral sitting in his empty house. All of his stuff was packed up, his mom's stuff was packed up, his dad had grabbed the majority of his things before he bailed. He was sitting on the leather couch in his living room, staring at the wall. His house didn't have half as much as it used to. Blaine sold everything he could to pay doctor's bills. Goodbye TV, goodbye baby grand, goodbye to half of his designer wardrobe. He would've sold all of it, and his keyboard, and his laptop, but his mom wouldn't let him. She couldn't bear him not playing her music anymore and not dressing like himself.

That had kind of gone to hell though. After she died, Blaine didn't dress how he used to. It was such a strong reminder of her, it hurt too much. Even when she was sick, he had to quit the Warblers when he left Dalton, and he hadn't really had much music in his life since then. And he missed music, he really did. His mom always wanted him to go to school for it, and for a while, he planned to. He looked into Juliard, UCLA, NYU, Boston Conservatory, Carnegie Mellon… And with his grades and his extracurriculars, he probably could've gotten in. He wasn't so sure anymore, though. He gave up on the idea of college when he was spending every dime he had on his mom. He wasn't upset to do it, but it sort of wiped his college fund, and he didn't really have time to think about school or college.

But now… he was a junior, and his life was starting to get back together. He had top honors again (mostly because McKinley wasn't exactly a challenge), he was starting to join clubs again, he was thinking of running for president of latin club, even. Blaine _really_ wanted to go to college. College has always been a dream of his; he loved school. He loved learning, he loved the idea of going to a conservatory, and when it started to seem like a possibility again, he was becoming obsessed with the idea.

"So Blaine," Santana called his attention, forcing him back to the present. "You and Kurt got here pretty late - what were you two doing?"

Blaine saw Kurt flush. He knew Santana suspected _something_, he wasn't sure how strong her convictions were, or if anyone else agreed with her. He had to play it cool, people usually didn't buy into Santana's theories.

"Watching fireworks, Santana." He replied easily, smiling at her sweetly.

She smiled right back. "How can you watch fireworks when your tongue is in someone's mouth?"

Blaine ducked his head, laughing along with everyone else. _Play it cool. _

Thankfully, Santana let it go. Until everyone started to go home at it reached 2 am, and she grabbed Blaine's arm as he started walking to Kurt's car and pulled him aside.

"What do you want, San?" He asked, able to see his breath because of the frigidness of the parking lot.

"Tell me about you and Hummel." She demanded. "I know something's going on, I wants to know what."

Blaine rolled his eyes. "Santana, nothing is going on between me and Kurt."

She sighed and tossed her ponytail. "What the hell, Blaine, I thought we were friends."

"Since when do you want friends?"

She looked at Blaine for a long moment, and Blaine's expression softened. That was a little much. He and Santana weren't _close,_ but Blaine couldn't honestly say they weren't friends.

"Look, Santana, I don't know what you want me to say." Blaine mumbled.

"Just tell me the truth." She said plainly. "I usually tell _you _the truth."

Blaine sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. "Okay, fine. I kissed Kurt at midnight."

She rolled her eyes. "Yeah, no shit. I've kissed half of the glee club, it doesn't matter. I know there's more going on between the you two."

"Listen," Blaine sighed, rubbing his hands together because it was _freezing_ outside. Santana crossed her arms impatiently and Blaine grabbed her hands, forcing her to look at him and drop her offensive stance. "Santana, I _really_ like Kurt. I don't want to mess this up."

Santana groaned. "God, you're so gay."

Blaine snorted. "Good observation," he met Santana's eye again. "Seriously, San, just leave it alone? For me?"

"Fine. But you owe me." She said before jogging to her car.

Blaine hurried to Kurt's car, jumping in the passenger side. "Take long enough?" Kurt said

Blaine just laughed. "Can I convince you to come over for a little while tonight? Snuggle up to some Roxy Music?"

"I may as well, given that I'm staying over tonight." Kurt responded easily.

"You're what?" Blaine exclaimed, almost positive he misheard him.

Kurt grinned at him. "Oh, did I forget to tell you? As far as everyone's concerned I'm going to drop you off and sleep over with Santana and Brittany."

"Kurt Hummel, you slippery little minx." He said. "Why are they agreeing to that? Santana loves to start rumors."

"She owes me a favor." Kurt answered enigmatically.

They got back to Blaine's house, and after they brushed the Denny's out of their teeth and changed into pajamas, they headed into Blaine's room. They climbed into bed and Kurt mumbled, "It's good that it's late enough that Mary and John are already in bed."

Blaine hummed in agreement. "It's very good. Because I _really _want to make out with my gorgeous best friend."

Kurt giggled, his insides warm and squirming. Best friend. _Best friend. _Blaine hadn't called him that before. Kurt climbed on top of Blaine, kissing him hard on the lips. Blaine smiled into his eager lips, his hands traveling over Kurt's body, both of them clearly very excited to be together again.

"I missed you so much," Blaine breathed onto Kurt's lips. "I missed this so much."

"I missed you too," Kurt mumbled before sucking on Blaine's neck.

Blaine's breathing was starting to get heavy. He wasn't really planning on turning this into a full blown hookup, but Kurt was _so hot _and God he really wanted Kurt to give him a hickey. Blaine's hands fell to his shirt and started fiddling with the buttons of Kurt's pajama top. "Can I?" he asked, pulling away from Kurt's lips, still hovering above him.

"Yeah," Kurt breathed, he sat up and helped Blaine undo the buttons of his patterned button up. Kurt pushed it off his shoulders, and Blaine could see it quite easily written on his face how nervous he was, given that it was the first time Blaine had seen Kurt with his shirt off. He glanced down at Kurt's naked torso and felt his breath leave him. God, Kurt was perfect.

He leaned down and kissed him again, tugging on Kurt's lips before he pulled back and said clearly, "You're gorgeous."

Needless to say, Blaine's shirt came off soon after that and it was his turn to feel self conscious, even though he'd been shirtless in front of him before, but Kurt seemed to enjoy his not wearing a shirt if kissing down Blaine's stomach was any indication. Blaine had heard a lot of arguments over the years about why gay couples are wrong and whatever, one he never heard was the insecurities when you're intimate with someone the same gender as you.

He couldn't help comparing himself to Kurt. It was all small things that didn't matter though, like that Kurt had a flatter stomach than him, but Kurt didn't seem to share the same thoughts. Blaine was feeling really grateful for his chest waxing habits, because Kurt was sucking all over his chest in a way that was definitely going to leave at least a few hickeys.

They finally fell asleep together close to two thirty, after talking for a little while, and kissing for a really long while. They'd pulled their shirts back on, and Kurt volunteered to sleep on Blaine's floor, but Blaine assured him his bed was large enough for both of them. It took them a little while to get comfortable near each other to sleep, because Blaine didn't want to do anything that'd make Kurt uncomfortable, and Kurt was awkwardly moving like he wasn't sure what to do with himself. After about five minutes of hesitant shuffling, Blaine just said screw it and snuggled into Kurt's chest, turning Kurt into the big spoon. Kurt wrapped his arms around Blaine after and Blaine figured they just needed a catalyst, because afterwards they moved with each other easily, adjusting whenever one of them moved to get more comfortable.

It was one of the best nights sleep Blaine had had in a very, very long time.

**?!**

Blaine woke up groggily, feeling something warm on his throat. Oh, those were lips. He opened his eyes slowly as the light invaded his sight and he turned his head and saw Kurt, half on top of him, pressing light kisses all over his neck. The corners of his mouth turned up when he saw Blaine was awake and he murmured into his neck, "Morning, handsome."

Blaine smiled and turned more so Kurt was propping himself up directly on top of him. "Good morning."

Kurt leaned down and kissed Blaine's lips, lowering himself down gently so their bodies were on top of each others. Blaine hummed into a kiss and said, "I like it when you sleep over. You wake me up with kisses and compliments."

Kurt giggled. "What can I say; you're cute in the morning."

"Am I not cute the rest of the day?"

"That sounds about right." Kurt answered cheekily.

Blaine laughed and grabbed Kurt's waist with both of his hands and rolled them over, laying on top of Kurt. They both grinned into the next kiss. "Well if you only like me in the morning, I may as well get the most out of it."

Kurt grinned and reached up to kiss him again when a soft, tentative knock disrupted their moment. Kurt's eyes widened. "Crap, do you think it's John or Mary?"

Blaine rolled off of him, "I hope not." He muttered, climbing off the bed and opening the door just enough so that no one outside would be able to see Kurt. It didn't matter though, it was only Ben.

He was rubbing his eyes drowsily and cradling his movie blanket in his other arm. He looked up at Blaine with tired eyes. "Mommy and daddy aren't home and I'm hungry."

"I'll be downstairs in a minute, alright, bud? We'll get you something to eat." Blaine assured.

Ben nodded and walked away, Blaine left his door open. He turned to Kurt and offered him his hands to help him up. Kurt stood up and walked with him downstairs where Rosie was sitting at the dining room table with a bowl of cereal and Ben was laying his head on the table.

Blaine started making Ben is usual breakfast and Rosie asked, "Blaine, why's Kurt here?" Blaine blanked, unable to think of a reason Kurt would be there when Rosie's eyes lit up. "Is he here to make cookies?"

Blaine darted his eyes to Kurt, and Kurt just smiled at Rosie and said, "I am!" Blaine couldn't help but smile at Rosie's elation, and he grabbed all the supplies they'd need.

Thirty minutes later, he had Kurt and Rosie scooping cookies onto a cookie sheet, and he was washing the dishes they'd used, pretty certain he had flour in his hair. Once the dishwasher was loaded and Kurt set the timer, he pulled him onto the couch in the family room as Ben started "Elf." Kurt sat down and pulled Blaine in front of him, wrapping his legs around him and nuzzling into his neck. With the smell of cookies in the oven, Kurt and Blaine snuggled up watching a movie with the kids, it was perfectly serene, and so… domestic. A little while into the movie, Blaine turned so he could sort of see Kurt's face and said, "So, I have a proposition for you."

"How formal. What is it?" Kurt asks, combing through Blaine's bed head.

Blaine sat up, wiggling out of Kurt's hold and turning towards him. Kurt looked more attentive, looking Blaine straight in the eye. Blaine missed having contact between them, so he took Kurt's hand and threaded their fingers together.

"I've been thinking," he started, hating how cliché he sounded. "About how much I love spending time with you, and how much more time we'd have if we were say, into the same kinds of things." Kurt looked puzzled. "I mean, it wouldn't be that big a stretch for me, because it used to be my thing too, so I was thinking about it and," he took a moment to pause and stop acting so ridiculously nervous. It wasn't like it'd be the end of the world if Kurt said no, so why did he have to make such a fuss?

"I was just wondering what you thought about me joining New Directions." He said lucidly, looking Kurt straight in the eye.

"Seriously? You'd want to join glee club?" Kurt asked importantly. Blaine nodded and Kurt grew an ear to ear grin and exclaimed, "Of course I want you to join, I said that months ago!"

"A lot can change in a month." Blaine pointed out.

Kurt threw his arms around Blaine's shoulders and hugged him, saying, "This didn't, of course I still want you to join. It'll make rehearsal a lot more fun for me."

"You're positive?" Blaine asked, holding Kurt's waist.

"Yes, of course, you'll love it there! You're already friends with most everyone in the glee club, and you're talented, they'll love having you there." Kurt encouraged, his eyes filled with excitement.

It was that excitement that made him join. The next day, when they were back in school and Blaine needed to talk to the creepy director, and he realized he'd have to listen to Berry twice as often, and he was supposed to sing about his feelings every week, he reminded himself of Kurt's joy from the day before as his motivation to go through with it.

"Hey, Mr. Schue?" Blaine said, tapping his door during his lunch and Mr. Schue's plan period.

He looked up from his computer with a smile. "Hi, Blaine! What's up?" the teacher asked, leaning back in his chair to show Blaine he had his full attention.

"I just wanted to talk to you about possibly joining glee club…?" he said slowly and tentatively. Kurt didn't tell him how exactly he was supposed to go about this.

But Schue's eyes lit up with excitement. "Great," he said, sitting up, "take a seat for a minute." He said, gesturing to the chairs in front of him. Yeah, Blaine was regretting joining a little bit. There was just something about Mr. Schue and all his sweater vests that just creeped him out.

"So what voice part are you?" he asked eagerly.

"Tenor." He answered, reminding himself he was doing this for Kurt. This was to spend more time with him, and to build their relationship, and get more involved in Kurt's life, and whatnot.

"Perfect, that's just what we need," the teacher said, grinning. "Now, have you had any problems with any of the kids in the club before? We really don't need anymore drama."

"Oh, yeah," Blaine chuckled. Mr. Schue's expression fell. "Finn and I had some pretty big problems a while back, but we're cool now. I mean, I'm sort of dating his brother, so…"

"Kurt?" the teacher clarified. Blaine nodded, resisting the urge to roll his eyes. He answered a few more boring questions for Mr. Schue before hurrying to lunch where he had like, ten minutes to eat because Mr. Schue wouldn't shut up. He didn't tell anyone besides Kurt about it, and tried to forget about it completely until he walked into the choir room with the director.

"New Directions," Mr. Schuester said at the start of his very first glee rehearsal ever on the first day back from break. "Please welcome our newest member, Blaine Anderson."

He had Blaine stand at the front of the room with him, looking out on the glee club. Unsurprisingly, many of them looked shocked. Mike and Tina both looked pleased, Kurt had a huge grin on his face that made Blaine smile. Kurt was just really cute, so what.

Schuester turned to him and asked, "Do you have anything prepared for us?"

"Like an audition?" Blaine asked, scratching the back of his head. Mr. Schue nodded and Blaine ran through his mind of all his old audition pieces, all the songs he did in his old choir and just for fun. His eyes wandered around the room for inspiration and got caught on Kurt, sitting in the back row with a smile playing on his lips. "Um… yeah, I think I have something."

"Great," Mr. Schue said, sitting down next to Artie in the front row. Blaine tried to remember all the chords in his head and how to play it as he walked over to the piano.

"I've got this covered," he said to the guy sitting at the piano. He didn't give music or anything to the band, because this was one he usually did by himself anyways, he didn't need them.

He gave himself a minute to acquaint himself with the piano before he played the intro.

**You think I'm pretty**

**Without any makeup on**

**You think I'm funny**

**When I tell the punchline wrong  
**  
He looked over at the glee club and saw their reactions reflected pretty much how little they expected Blaine to sing a cheesy top 40's love song. Blaine would be surprised too from the outside, because he really just didn't seem the type; what with the leather jacket he wore almost every week, his motorcycle, he'd given most everyone at this school an enigmatic image of him, they probably expected like, The Who or someone. If he had to guess, they probably thought he was going to suck too.

The band played along after the first chorus, picking up pretty easily. His version wasn't very different from the original at all, it was just a piano acoustic. He couldn't keep his eyes off of Kurt for too long at a time, because ugh he was adorable, and he loved seeing him blush, and he loved seeing all their friends poking fun at him in their seats. He was usually really lowkey about their relationship, but he couldn't help it when he was singing. Especially singing _that song_. The first time Kurt had ever heard him song it had been this song, he wasn't sure why, something Kurt really made him love the song. A few people started singing along at the choruses, like Tina and Quinn, and he appreciated it. He hadn't expected it, but he probably should have, given how freaking weird they all were.

He finished his song and stood up to some applause from the glee club, Rachel and Finn looking extremely enthused, but he was paying more attention to Kurt, because he was still blushing because of the significance behind that song, and yeah, he probably didn't expect Blaine to remember that was the first song he sung for him. He nodded to Mr. Schue as he started the lesson and walked over to sit beside Kurt in the back, resisting tooth and nail to not kiss him, because their friends weren't in clue with their… thing, so he didn't kiss him as much as he wanted to, and settled to covertly brush his hand over Kurt's shoulder.

Kurt turned to him, biting his lip. "I can't believe you did this." he mumbled. "Oh, my god, you're the most embarrassing person in the world. You're worse than my dad."

Blaine groaned. "Please do not compare me to your dad." He grumbled, shuffling his chair a little closer to Kurt's.

Then, he attended his very first glee club lesson (lesson? Class? Rehearsal?) and it was… fun. A lot more fun than he expected. He forgot how much he loved being in glee club, especially because Kurt was there, and the people there still seemed to like him, so yeah, it was kind of an awesome start to the new year. 


	10. I Really Want To Come Kick It With You

**Warning for underage drug use (cigarettes, if they count as drugs), and some offensive language. **

They were laying on Kurt's bed, side by side, trying to make shapes out of the bumps and cracks in the ceiling. It was the first time in a while they were on a bed together and they weren't making out or napping, because they did quite a lot of both. But no, they were just laying there, their hands loosely clasped together between them, taking in the scent of fresh sheets. It was a relaxing day. Kurt was tired, and they both had so much homework to do over the weekend, that ignoring it felt like bliss.

Then there was a knock on the door. Blaine groaned, and the door slowly creaked open and Finn walked in, and smiled when he saw they weren't doing anything he didn't want to see.

"Hey guys," he greeted them cheerfully. "There's gonna be a little party/sleepover thing tonight at Quinn's place." He informed them, rocking on his heels like an excited child. "The whole glee club's going, you're totally invited if you wanna come, it's not gonna be super intense or anything, it's just to have some fun, and bond as a glee club, 'specially cause Blaine and Zizes are new."

Kurt turned to the boy on his right and asked, "You want to go?"

"Can't. Babysitting tonight, remember?" Oh, right, he agreed to help him with that.

"Oh, that's right, we told Mary we'd help her out."

"Oh, it's okay, you don't have to." Blaine assured him. "Go to the party, hang out with your friends for tonight. I'll pick you up tomorrow and we can go get some breakfast." He said with a content little smile.

Kurt returned the smile before he tilted his head slightly up to look at his stepbrother. "Finn, you want to give me a ride?"

"Sure!" Finn said, typing something into his phone. "We're gonna leave at like, seven, okay?"

He hummed, lying back down, and as Finn left, squirmed a little to get comfortable again. He laid back on his side, facing Blaine and said to him, "You sure you don't mind me skipping out on babysitting?"

Blaine copied his position. "I'm sure. It'll be good for you to hang out with your friends without me, maybe it'll even get Rachel off my back." Kurt raised his eyebrows. "She talked at me for about ten minutes the other day about how our spending time together is becoming detrimental to your friendship." He explained, rolling his eyes but smiling.

Kurt snorted. "Yeah, _that's_ why I don't like spending time with her," he teased. "But yeah, breakfast sounds good for tomorrow, we haven't gone out to eat in a while."

Blaine hummed. "_Speaking _of things we haven't done in a while…" he murmured, sitting up on his elbows.

Kurt flushed. "Don't you dare," he warned, looking at Blaine sternly.

He laughed. "Kurt Hummel," he admonished playfully. "I was talking about going _dancing_, get your mind out of the gutter!"

Kurt rolled his eyes and glanced down at Blaine's pink lips for just a second before leaning up and pecking them, barely grazing their lips much at all. Blaine smiled and muttered, "If you're going to kiss me, you at least have to kiss me for real."

He leaned down and pressed his lips to Kurt's, tugging on his bottom lip the way he knew Kurt loved. Blaine pulled back and smiled brightly at him, hovering over him a bit, his bottom half still on the bed beside Kurt. Kurt grabbed the collar of his polo shirt and tugged him down again, kissing him slowly, Blaine's arms propped up on either side of Kurt's head to keep him elevated.

Kurt wasn't exactly sure when their soft, sweet kisses stopped feeling like enough, but fairly quickly he was gripping Blaine's shirt, their lips smacking together, their breath getting ragged. He could feel his jeans starting to feel just a little too tight in the front, and he begged against Blaine's lips, "_More_,"

Blaine kissed down his neck, Kurt threw his head back to give him more space. "More? More what?"

"I don't know," he breathed, "just more."

Blaine threw his legs over Kurt's waist and seated himself on Kurt's lap, keeping himself up so not all his weight was on him. He kissed Kurt's lips again, holding onto the nape of his neck with one hand, trailing down Kurt's chest with the other. He slowly pressed himself further down on Kurt, getting a small shudder from the latter, and experimentally rubbed himself across the front of Kurt's jeans.

Kurt whimpered into his mouth softly, and Blaine pulled back, "Are you okay? Is this okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, it's okay." He said, allowing for Blaine to continue moving. "It feels good."

Blaine slid across his lap with growing certainty, pressing kisses across Kurt's jaw. "Oh, yeah? How good? Tell me how good it feels."

It feels like a horny teenage boy getting his genitals rubbed against the horny teenage boy he's in love with. It feels like more than he imagined grinding would ever be like, because he was still feeling more than the physical. He was still acutely aware of his still developing feelings for Blaine, and he was more aware of the feelings Blaine had for _him_, which he found himself thinking about fairly often.

Blaine nipped at his lips, reminding him he was waiting for an answer. "It feels amazing." He responded finally. "It feels like more than I ever expected someone to make my feel in high school."

Blaine seemed to like his answer, and he grinned before kissing him again, tracing Kurt's lips with his tongue, rolling his hips against the other boy's. They were having a quiet afternoon together before, and it was lovely, it really was, but this was also lovely, and very fun, and it was good to get your heart racing every once in awhile, right?

Blaine's hand groped around at his waist and starting undoing the buttons of their jeans, but Blaine put his hand over Blaine's and started stuttering, "I'm not – I'm not ready for-"

Blaine just pecked his lips and brought his hands back to . "That's okay, no pressure," he assured him, "Just tell me when's when." He said, kissing him again.

It might've been pathetic to someone else that Blaine was able to make him come with just grinding and a quick, finishing Handjob, but someone else had not experienced how well Blaine knew to use his hips, or how much of an amazing kisser he was, because he was an _amazing _kisser.

Blaine just jerked himself off after him, because Kurt was still a little too nervous to… _touch_, but it was fun to watch nonetheless. Of course, after that messy exchange, he was going to have to change his sheets _again_.

They just settled back on the mattress afterward, not bothering with sheets yet, laying side by side, looking up at the ceiling. "Sorry about the stoppage earlier, I'm just not really…"

Blaine turned his head to him quickly, his eyebrows furrowed. "Hey, don't apologize for what you are and aren't comfortable with. I _want _you to tell me if there's ever anything we do that you're not ready for. I need to know that you're comfortable… so I can be comfortable." He murmured, looking Kurt importantly in the eye. "Besides… even kissing you is kind of a dream come true."

Kurt blushed at the tips of his ears. "Dream come true?"

Blaine grinned. "Definitely. Have you ever looked in a mirror?" he asked. "Plus, you're funny, and witty, and smart, and obnoxiously talented," he listed, Kurt blushed a little more. "You're like, my dream guy."

He turned to Blaine completely, his ears and cheeks still pink. "Well, I'm not a dream." He informed him lightly, looking over Blaine's soft features.

"That's true," he agreed, "You're so much better than a dream, because you're _real_." They didn't say much for a while until Blaine's phone started going off and he sighed. "That's Mary. I have to go, sweetie, I'll text you in the morning?"

Kurt nodded, trying to hide the smile that started forming when Blaine called him 'sweetie'. He pecked his lips and got off the bed, grabbing his phone from the bedside table. "See you in the morning." He said, sending Kurt a coy smile and a wink before leaving. That boy was going to be the death of him…

He went over to Quinn's place with Finn at seven, bringing his overnight bag as was advised. They went inside, Finn opening the door without knocking, and pointedly ignored Rachel waiting in the kitchen, who instead descended on Kurt.

"Kurt, you made it!" she cheered excitedly. She looked behind him, looking around a bit, "Is Blaine not here with you?"

He shook his head and walked in, shrugging off his shoulders and hanging it with the rest, following her into Quinn's living room, where everyone else already was lounging. Puck looked up at him and asked, "Yo, where's Anderson?"

"Babysitting." He answered, sitting beside Mercedes.

Santana rolled her eyes. "I thought the point of this completely alcohol free event was inducting Blanderson and Zizes. How can we do that if he's not even here?"

Finn shrugged. "We can just have fun," he said. "I mean, it's not like we don't already all know Blaine." He pointed out.

"Well, I'm bored, let's do something." Mercedes said, sitting up straighter.

"Let's play never have I ever." Santana suggested, crawling onto the floor. "Since it's the only game we can enjoy without booze."

Everyone slowly meandered into a circle on the floor; Kurt was kind of wishing he'd just followed through on babysitting. He loved spending time with the glee club, but there was just something about that night that was just giving him a headache. All he knew, was _he_ wanted Blaine there, everyone else wanted Blaine there, Blaine wanted to be there, and he _wasn't_ there. He kind of just felt like moping.

Santana was the first to volunteer. "Never have I ever dyed my hair." She looked around at their shocked faces. "What? I can't think of anything sexual I haven't done."

Kurt rolled his eyes and Tina and Sam both lifted a finger. Santana pointed at Tina, who thought for a moment before deciding, "Never have I ever kissed on a first date."

Kurt had to raise a finger for that, because he and Blaine kissed on their first real date, and he technically kissed Brittany on their first 'date'.

He was of a small amount to raise his finger, so he couldn't really hide it. "Really, Hummel? Didn't expect that from you."

He shrugged and Sam went next. He didn't have to put down many fingers after that, as the questions were _gone to a concert, _and _gone out drinking_, and _had sex._

He went next, deciding to go with, "Never have I ever… smoked a cigarette."

Santana and Puck both put a finger down, but Santana raised her eyebrows at him. "Really? Anderson hasn't influenced you?"

"Blaine doesn't smoke." He said with a roll of his eyes.

"Still hasn't made you fun either though." Puck interjected, ignoring the glare he got from Kurt. "What? You haven't ever smoked, not even to try it, you sure haven't smoked weed, you're the Virgin Mary, you haven't even been to a concert. Sounds pretty lame."

"Leave Kurt alone," Mercedes snapped. "Just because Kurt has safer hobbies than you doesn't make him _boring_."

He appreciated her words but he didn't pay much attention to the game after that, his mind filling up with insecurities about whether he was fun, and wondering. About himself, about Blaine, just wondering what Santana and Puck would consider _fun_.

He just pulled out his phone and shot off a quick message to Blaine.

_Are you doing anything this weekend?_

**Evita this weekend, remember? And breakfast too, unless you're backing out**

_Of course not, you want to do anything else tomorrow? Are you busy?_

**Course not, we can go out if you'd like. Anything special you had in mind?**

_Something new_

He stopped checking his phone after that, shutting it off and putting it on the dresser so he wouldn't be tempted. He always hated it when he was with his friends and they chose their phone over him, and he didn't want to do that, even though he'd rather be talking to Blaine than talking to Santana, who was being fairly persistent about learning more about him and his relationship with Blaine.

They played all of the possible shitty party games; never have I ever, truth or dare, spin the bottle. He wasn't sure when they fell asleep. He'd set an alarm on his phone for eight thirty, because Blaine was going to be there at nine, but he'd forgotten he shut his phone off the night before and his alarm didn't go off.

So he was woken up by Rachel's pealing laughter from the kitchen. He didn't think of it as much, and his head was swimming somewhere between consciousness and unconsciousness.

He felt lips press against his temple. He just smiled and squirmed a little, blinking his eyes open, and seeing Blaine crouched in front of him, wearing a peacoat and a scarf. "Hi," he greeted him gently.

Kurt just hummed, still waking up, and then registering Brittany's head still on his lap. "Are you still up for breakfast? If not, I could come back in a few hours to pick you up for the show."

Kurt shook his head, sliding out from beneath Brittany, placing a pillow under her head as he lowered it back onto the couch. He stretched, his back cracking in a few different spots, Blaine looked around at their friends, sprawled out on the floor around them. He held out his hand and Kurt took it, snagging his bag from its spot beside the couch.

"Let me get changed, I'll be out in a minute." He said, sliding into the bathroom.

"I like you voice when you're sleepy." Blaine commented. "All tired and raspy, it's very sexy."

Kurt's cheeks went pink and he shut the door. He'd chosen his outfit the day before, and was glad he'd elected for a newsies cap, because he was so not in the mood to do his hair very much. So all he did was get dressed and brush his teeth before meeting Blaine again, pulling him to his car quickly so no one would wake up, and the only person they had to say goodbye to was Rachel.

They went to a small café for breakfast that he'd never actually heard of, just a few streets over from Blaine's house. Their coffee was more expensive, but considerably better than that of the Lima bean, and their scones were almost as good as his mom's old recipe.

"So how was the party?" Blaine asked between bites of biscotti.

"Boring. We didn't do much, but it would've been more fun if you were there." He responded, licking frosting off his lips.

Maybe it was something about the action, but Blaine apparently felt the need to lean across the table and press their lips together, picking icing up off of Kurt's lips. Kurt smiled at him once he sat back down, and Blaine just picked up the conversation like nothing happened. Due to Kurt's sleepy start, they had to hurry over to the theater so they wouldn't be late for the show.

Blaine handed over their tickets and took Kurt's hand, pulling him to the back row. They hadn't even done anything yet, but it was still a thousand times more fun than last night was for Kurt.

The only live performances he'd ever been to were the annual sing-along _Sound of Music_ performances in the fall, and he loved those. But this was something else entirely. Ohio was cultureless, so performances were far and few between, and it wasn't that _The Sounds of Music _was done _well, _it was more his emotional attachment because of his mom. But this show was… wow. The cast was amazing, the pit was too, and the fact that it was a _date_ made it all the more amazing. God, he loved Blaine. He – he liked Blaine. He loved him as a friend. He… he and Blaine loved each other as friends. And they liked each other as more than friends, but they… yeah. No. Not really. But in the theater, sitting beside Blaine with their hands clasped between them and stage lights on Blaine's face, it was fun to think, _yeah, really_.

**?!**

Kurt had Blaine sit in his living room talking to his parents and Finn while he showered and got dressed for the rest of their evening. He had looked up what _new _thing he wanted to do, what new thing he wanted to do when he decided. There was a concert that night, a Queen Cover band, doing a free show at Faurot Park that evening. It wasn't that he felt like Santana and Puck had influenced him into wanting to try new things, it was more a matter of they'd brought to his attention how little he experimented, and what better time than in high school?

So he dressed warmly, because it was likely going to be fucking freezing, but he made sure to wear the scarf Blaine gave him and his favorite bomber hat. He went downstairs and grabbed Blaine off the couch, waving to his dad and Carole before pulling him outside.

"Where are we going?" he asked, hopping into the passenger side of his car. Kurt pulled out of the driveway.

"To the park. We're going to a concert. It'll probably suck, but I think it'll be fun." He said.

"A little cold for an outdoor concert, don't you think?"

Kurt shrugged. "We don't have to go if you don't want to."

"Of course I want to," Blaine said immediately. "I think a concert's a great date idea. I was just wondering if you'd want your first concert experience to be a little more magical."

Kurt snuck a look at him before turning back to the road. He blindly found Blaine's hand and held it over the console. "Every date with you is magical."

**?!**

They ducked under an awning at the concession stand an hour or two into the show. Blaine put his arm around Kurt's chilled shoulders and he leaned him. The Queen Cover band – as he assumed they would,- sucked pretty bad. Not bad enough they'd wanted to take off early, but something similar to karaoke night at the retro diner he attended with his family on occasion. A guy with blond dreadlocks turned away from his friends and towards the boys, a cigarette hanging from his lips. He looked them over and held out his pack to them. "You bros need a smoke?" he asked. "Helps numb the cold. 'Least I think it does."

Blaine started to say no, but Kurt reached out and took one from him, getting a grin from the guy who turned back around after nodding at him. "Kurt, what are you doing?"

"Trying something new." He answered easily, pressing a kiss onto Blaine's cheek.

Blaine looked confused, but fairly amused. "You know you can get addicted from just one, right? Smoking's bad for you." He said, snatching it from Kurt's fingers.

Kurt took his back, pressing Blaine against the wall of the concession. "Honey, relax. I'll be fine. Besides, I'm tired of being boring, _Kurt Hummel,_ who does the same things time and time again and never does _anything _exciting."

Blaine's brow furrowed. "You think you're boring?" he asked incredulously. Kurt shrugged. "Kurt, you're the most interesting kid in the world." He said, getting a disbelieving look from Kurt. He pulled Kurt into a quick kiss to try and prove his point. He pulled back slowly and looked him in the eye, nudging their noses together.

"You know you don't need to impress me, right?" he said lowly. "You're way beyond that." Kurt grew a small smile. "In fact, I'm _constantly _trying to impress _you_. Like, constantly."

Kurt laughed. "Really?"

Blaine nodded with a grin. "Really. Just wait until Valentine's, I'm going to impress the crap out of you."

He laughed. "Well, this is more about proving to _myself _that I'm not boring. A sort of self esteem thing." He explained. Blaine nodded slowly, probably knowing Kurt well enough to know he wouldn't back down. "Have you ever smoked?" Kurt asked, turning the cigarette in his fingers.

"Once," Blaine answered, pressing closer to him. "I didn't like it, so I never did after that. And by the way, I won't stop you, but I'd like to put it out there now, that I do not approve."

Kurt just laughed again and held the cigarette toward Blaine. "Teach me how to smoke."

Blaine pursed his lips at him before taking the cig and placing it more properly in Kurt's fingers, having him hold it between his first and second knuckles. "Once it's lit, don't pull too much smoke into your mouth or you'll choke, and possibly get sick. And um, after that, hold it in your mouth for a couple seconds, and when you, you know, take a drag, just um, inhale deeply." He instructed. "And when you blow out, it's up to you if you want to do it slowly or all at once."

Kurt nodded, playing the instructions back and trying to remember them all. "Are you sure you want to do this? It's not like whether or not you learn how to smoke is going to define your high school career."

Kurt nodded. "I want to try."

Blaine tapped the shoulder of the guy who gave Kurt the cigarette. "Hey, can we steal a light?"

He nodded with a crooked grin. "Sure, thing, brotha," he said, pulling a lighter out of his pocket. He looked up at Kurt and lit his cigarette. "First time?"

He nodded and a girl with a nose piercing turned to them, "Don't be nervous, it's not hard."

The kid with blue hair beside her said, "It's easier than smoking a joint, that's for sure."

She snorted. "You're so full of shit."

Dreadlocks turned to them and said, "You two, shut it, just let the kid smoke."

Kurt flicked his eyes back to Blaine's and put the cigarette on his lips. He was probably over thinking it, trying to decide the best way to wrap his lips around it, but soon his attention was back to remembering how to smoke properly, as he took his first drag.

"Inhale with your lungs." The blue haired kid advised.

"Don't take too much smoke at once," Dreadlocks said. "I did my first time and I puked."

"That's 'cause you're a pussy." Nose piercing snorted.

Kurt coughed, too much smoke in his mouth and lungs, and he pulled the cig away from his lips and coughed out some of the smoke, Blaine rubbing his back soothingly. It tasted awful, honestly, but he was determined to do it right, at least once. So when he stopped coughing, he pulled it back to his lips and tried again, taking a less ambitious drag than the last, trying to breath with his lungs, before blowing the smoke out of his mouth, letting it dribble out, not putting too much force on it given most of his air supply was gone.

Blaine and the three kids with them gave him applause as he exhaled. "And the boy becomes a man," Blue hair narrated proudly, clapping him on the back.

Kurt grinned at them and they went back to their own thing, and he held the cigarette to Blaine. He tapped it on the end and placed it in his own mouth, taking a drag by hollowing out his cheeks, and blowing it back out easily. It was incredibly hot. Kurt knew it shouldn't have been as much of a turn on as it was, but there was just something about how Blaine's cheeks hollowed, and how easily he did it, plus the fact he was wearing his dad's old jacket, he looked almost _dangerous_. The kind of dangerous you wouldn't want to bring home to meet your parents. Probably the kind of dangerous the students of McKinley thought he was.

He took another drag before stubbing it onto a nearby ashtray until it stopped smoking, and leaving it. Kurt leaned against the wall, his head spinning a little bit. Blaine walked back over to him and asked, "How are you feeling?"

"Kinda dizzy, kinda like I want to kiss you." He answered, grinning at Blaine, his voice a little raspy.

Blaine smiled and leaned forward, kissing Kurt with cold, slightly chapped lips. Kurt's tongue dipped inside Blaine's mouth and he quickly pulled back, retracting at the taste of his mouth, laughing. "You taste like an ashtray."

Blaine laughed and pressed their foreheads together and dug into his pocket. "Which is why whenever you smoke, you should have some pretty strong gum on you." He handed Kurt a stick of peppermint gum before taking once as well. "How'd you like it?"

"I didn't like it at all," he answered, needing to clear his throat. "You looked like you knew what you were doing though, you sure you've only smoked once?"

"Yeah, I'm sure. It's kind of something you don't forget, like how to cook pasta." He responded. "You still dizzy?"

Kurt shrugged, hearing the Freddie Mercury impersonator announce their last song. "A little, but not dizzy enough to not walk."

"Let's get out of here, it's almost time for your curfew." Blaine said, wrapping his arm around Kurt's waist and walking them back to his car. "Do you want to stop anywhere for food? We have almost fifteen minutes."

"How about… Wendy's." Kurt said as they got over. Blaine opened the passenger side for him, and Kurt said, "Are you sure you're okay driving?"

Blaine walked over to the other side. "I'm fine, Kurt," he murmured, grabbing Kurt's hand and gently kissing his knuckles.

He drove them over, going through the drive-through and ordering, paying for both of them despite Kurt's protests. They sat in the parking lot eating for a few minutes before it got too close to eleven and Blaine brought them back to Kurt's house.

He didn't get out of the car to walk Kurt to the door, probably because he only had a few minutes before he'd be late for curfew, and it always took them longer to say goodbye when Blaine walked him to the door. So he just walked over to Blaine's side of the car where he brought down the window.

"Text me tomorrow?" Blaine requested.

"Of course," he agreed before leaning into the car and kissing Blaine firmly on the lips, now tasting like peppermint and French fries, with just a hint of smoke. "I'll see you on Monday."

"See you then," Blaine agreed, rolling up the window as Kurt walked away. Something Kurt appreciated was whenever he didn't walk Kurt to the door, Blaine always waited to make sure he got inside his house before driving away.

He walked inside at 10:57 pm, and dropped his coat at the door, bringing his scarf and his food upstairs, greeting his dad and Carole quickly, hurrying upstairs because the thought just occurred to him he could possibly still smell like smoke, and obviously Blaine wouldn't have noticed, because he would've smelled the same, but his dad _definitely _would've noticed, and _definitely_ would've killed him, and killed Blaine too.

So he ran up to his room, stopping at Finn's for a second to drop off the fries he got him before closing his door and changing out of his clothes, opting for pajamas, and snuggling under the covers with Joan Armatrading playing softly beside him. His phone vibrated with a text from Blaine, which he quickly opened up and waited for a picture to load.

**You know, bad boy Kurt has a ring to it. It's pretty hot too.**

Below was a picture of him smoking. It looked like it was from his second attempt, because he looked like he actually knew what he was doing. He hadn't even noticed Blaine take a picture, but he shouldn't have been all that surprised; Blaine _loved _taking pictures of him. He always took pictures when Kurt wasn't paying attention. Kurt didn't really understand his fascination with taking and having pictures of him, but last he recalled, there were two pictures of him in Blaine's room; one beside his bed, a framed one of the two of them that Blaine had snapped during one of their Breadsticks dates. The other was just a picture of Kurt at his locker, that Blaine loved for some reason, that was beside the picture he had of his mom on his dresser.

Kurt had never really understood before he met Blaine, how much you could feel for another person. You know, just how proud you can be of someone, or just how much you can be happy for someone. He'd felt it all before for his friends and dad, but never to the extent he could feel it for Blaine. One thing Blaine did, that Kurt never realized how important it was to him, was he showed how proud he was to be with Kurt. Even if they weren't explicit of how much he was with him, he never shied away from an opportunity to brag about Kurt, and while it was incredibly embarrassing, it was also something that made Kurt feel that kind of, _yeah, I'm falling in love with Blaine and not too scared to deny it to myself, _and that was a feeling that he tried not to let himself feel.


End file.
